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An explosion echoed as a blur crashed into a building, demolishing it entirely. Suddenly a figure emerged from the wreckage, striding down a ruined street, revealing one of the world's most famous heroes: Superman, also known as Clark Kent.

However, unlike the powerful and reliable figure, this Superman looked like he had just come out of an intense battle, his uniform torn, covered in soot and blood, the hero's own impenetrable skin covered in wounds and blood. He breathed heavily, rubbing his face to get some of the blood off his face before looking up.

On top of the wreckage was a blackened figure with a flaming bat symbol, his arms and leg were also orange with small flames emanating from them and his eyes seemed to be just flames with two horns on his head similar to a bat's ears, this was Batman, also known as Bruce Wayne. Slowly a mouth opened revealing sharp teeth and a fiery interior.

“You can't defeat me, Clark.”
Declares the creature before vanishing into smoke and reappearing right in front of the Kryptonian.
“You couldn't beat me before, you won't be able to now. I'll offer you one more time, go away and leave Gotham.”

“Bruce... That's not you, they wouldn't...” Whatever Clark was saying was interrupted by a hand grabbing his neck, hanging him, causing him to spit out a large amount of blood.

“DON'T TALK ABOUT THEM!”
Batman roars as his flames grow brighter and his blackened skin forms cracks.
“THEY WERE MINE! MINE! AND GOTHAM TOOK THEM FROM ME! GOTHAM WILL NOT EXIST WITHOUT THEM!”

Superman fell to his knees spitting blood and coughing trying to recover from the attack before slowly getting up, looking at his former best friend.

“Bruce... I'm sorry they died, but you're out of line! Look around you, this is crazy, all those dead people. You're not like that, Batman's not like that! Your code...”

Suddenly, Batman's hand grabbed Superman's mouth, causing the hero to open his eyes wide and raise his hands to try to free himself from the bat's grip.

“I don't care. Without my children, none of this matters.”
The creature growls and brings its face closer to Superman's.
“Nothing matters, not even you.”

With that, Batman lets go of Superman and brings his two arms up to strike his opponent twice in the face.  Superman staggers as the claws grow in Bruce's hands and he strikes once more, slicing through the hero's torso, who lets out a sigh and takes a few steps back, incredulous at the blood pouring from his body.

Suddenly, he falls to his knees, taking one last look at Bruce before falling to the ground motionless.

Batman stares at him before lifting his foot and stomping on Superman's head.

“You were my friend, my best friend Clark, but you tried to stop me from bringing my children back... And that I can't forgive.”
Batman's foot rose and fell, causing another shockwave as blood pooled on the floor.

Seeing that Superman would no longer be a problem, Batman turned around sniffing the air. He frowned before raising one of his arms and grabbing a shield that had been thrown at him, absent-mindedly noticing the sharp edge that didn't even manage to cut his skin.

“A futile attempt to hurt me, Diana? I thought you'd be more challenging.”
Batman casually bent the shield before tossing it aside as if it were garbage while looking at a new group of people approaching him.

The first was the one he was talking to, Diana Prince, also known as Wonder Woman. She was wearing a suit of armor in terrible condition with several cracks and dents, her blood covering her in addition to the fact that she was missing one of her arms and had a large cut over one of her eyes, a furious look in her one eye and was holding a sword tightly.

“Batman... This has to stop.” This time one of the people with Diana spoke up.

This one was wearing a bright violet costume with some green jewels around it that stood out against the woman's orange skin and hair that seemed to be on fire, aiding her flight. Bruce smiled as he looked at her, Kori Anders or Starfire, one of the great loves of his son Dick Grayson, and even the mother of his daughter...

Until they both died.

“Kori, I'll bring them both back to us and you can call me Bruce... You're family.”
The answer didn't seem to please the group that much with Kori biting his lip looking conflicted about what was happening.

“Batman...”

“He's beyond saving.” A growl echoed as a green-skinned boy stepped forward, his gaze wild with sharp fangs sticking out of his boa, this was Garfield Logan, also known as Beast boy. “He killed all our friends, Kori. He killed Raven!”

“Focus.” Warned a man descending from the sky with a soft flutter of wings echoing.

He landed with a grunt revealing that he was wearing almost completely destroyed armor with many wounds on his body and a helmet resembling the head of a hawk, this was Carter Hall, the Hawkman. Carter grunted before removing his helmet, showing that his face was also badly bruised.

“Our duty is to buy time for Zatanna, Nabu and Constantine. And if you can kill him, take your chance.” Carter declares as he picks up a spiked mace and an axe, holding a weapon in each hand.

“Zatanna, Constantine and Nabu... Three powerful and competent wizards, with two of them being able to be the supreme wizards of the Earth, so much power... I could bring my children back!”
Batman smiled, his mouth seeming to glow as he began to laugh wildly, raising his head to the sky.

The four heroes looked at him tensely, Beast boy shuddered and his body shook with his wide eyes fixed on Batman while Wonder Woman and Hawkman stepped back into a combat position with their weapons.

Starfire on the other hand stood still with a sad expression looking at Bruce.

“I'll bring them back... I'll bring them back, Kori! My family will be complete again! My children! My granddaughter! Your daughter! We'll be a happy family again!”
Bruce continued smiling, looking at Starfire who closed her eyes tightly.

“N-No, they're dead, Bruce, we have to accept that...” A pop echoed as Starfire's body relaxed, falling on top of Bruce who stood there smiling, holding her in a hug.

“Don't worry about anything, Kori... Rest up, I'll bring our family back soon.”
Bruce gently laid the heroine on the ground before looking at the other three who stared at him frozen with his speed, none of whom had seen Batman move and knock out Starfire.
“Where are the mages?”

A roar echoed as Mutano leapt at Bruce, changing shape into a lion that opened its jaw. Bruce didn't seem to mind as he reached out to grab the animal's mouth.

“I asked you a question... Where. Are. The. Mages?”
Batman growled with his eyes blazing as the lion slowly transformed back into Mutano's form.

Mutano grunted as Batman's grip shifted to his neck. Suddenly, Wonder Woman appeared slashing at Bruce's arms, freeing Mutano before Carter struck with her club, throwing the bat into a ruined building.

“That was for Shayera.”

“Get up, Beast boy, the fight's not over.” Warns Wonder Woman, looking at the building.

Slowly the figure of Batman reappeared from the hole with two new arms with sharp claws, he stared at them before roaring making the buildings around them shake and the three heroes stare at him tensely.

“Where are the MAGES?”

A man with short white hair and an eye patch wearing an orange and black combat suit was sitting in a chair sharpening a katana with various weapons on the table next to him, this was Slade Wilson, also known as Deathstroke. when suddenly everything shook.

“Shit!” Deathstroke looked at the walls and ceiling that were shaking before stopping. “Are you three going to be long on this spell?”

“No, we're close to finishing.” Declares a blond man wearing an overcoat, staring intently at a rune on the floor.

Next to him was a woman with black hair wearing a women's tuxedo and across from her was a man wearing gold and blue armor with a gleaming helmet. The three were John Constantine, Zatanna Zatara and Nabu, also known as Dr. Fate.

“I hope so, or we'll all be dead.” With that, Deathstroke put on a helmet that was half orange and half black with only one eye before arming himself with each of his weapons.

Carter groaned as he dragged himself along the ground with a trail of blood behind him until he stopped coughing, his whole body writhing in pain.

“Carter Hall.”
Batman's distorted voice echoed before a kick to Carter's side flipped him over, causing him to face Batman.
“Where are the mages?”

“Fuck you...” Carter sighs as Batman steps on his chest.

“WHERE ARE THE MAGES!? TELL ME!”

“N-Never...”

Batman stared at him before raising Hawkgirl's club, making Carter's eyes widen.

“Then die.”
Carter couldn't even defend himself when the weapon suddenly smashed completely through his skull with the metal falling to the ground.

The demon snarled before turning to see Wonder Woman leaning against a wall with her sword broken and Beast boy's body broken in half next to her. She was breathing hard, looking at Batman.

“Ba-Batman... Bruce...” She groaned, falling to one knee, her whole body aching from the battle they'd had.

“Where are the mages?”
A sharp point lifted Diana's chin making her face Batman who stared at her with blazing eyes, with nary a trace of her old friend left.

“Please... Bruce...”

A growl echoed before Batman's hand grabbed her neck and lifted her into the air, and this time she no longer had the strength to resist or fight back. The two stared at each other in silence, various memories of the two of them together flashing through Diana's head as tears fell from her eyes seeing what her former closest friend had become.

“The mages. Where are the mages? TELL ME!”

Deathstroke closed a pair of iron doors before taking a deep breath, closing his one eye briefly. He knew that the chance of this being his last moment alive was very high, the irony being that Earth's greatest protector turned out to be the planet's greatest destroyer.

Four or five years ago, some members of the “Bat-family” died in action or were shot separately one after the other, their deaths impacting everyone, but none as much as Batman himself. He didn't have the details of everything, but from what he understood, the Batman who was Bruce Wayne began to learn magic, dark magic, necromancy and other dark arts in order to get his children back.

However, somehow the idealistic hero with his strong code of honor changed, corrupted by his research he changed into a monster, an evil demon who destroyed everything in his path to get his “sons” and “daughters” back.  It was absurd to think that this was the goal of such a monster and even worse to think that it was research that had corrupted him... but the results were nothing to take lightly.

Rituals, sacrifices, deaths, Batman completely lost his limits and started killing even the most harmless villains, then he switched to heroes and then civilians, all to get his children back.

“Damn it, Slade, get your head in the game!

” Readying a rifle, Deathstroke walked towards the doors of the bunker he was in.

Suddenly, they began to glow, causing Deathstroke to raise his weapon, knowing exactly who it was.

A hole appeared in the thick metal doors and from them Batman appeared growling as the temperature rose.

“Where are the mages?”

In response, Deathstroke began firing back. Batman stared at the mercenary, with each shot hitting him, but neither seemed to bother him, however, the demon began to follow his opponent slowly.

“He's not stopping...”

Deathstroke abandons his rifle and picks up a different weapon, firing a freezing ray at Batman, but it didn't even seem to affect him, only creating steam when it hit him.

“Shit!”

Deathstroke now threw his weapons away and pulled a katana from his back, glaring at Batman.

“...I never thought it would come to this... Me as a hero and you as a villain.” Batman didn't reply, just stared at Deathstroke before growling.

“The mages, where are they?”

“You'll never get to them.”

With that, Deathstroke leapt at Batman, raising his blade to attack him. Batman, however, only moved to the side to dodge the blow.

He then stood up, moving the katana towards Batman who continued to dodge slightly, looking into Deathstroke's eyes. No matter how hard he tried, none of his blows hit, until Batman stopped, leaving the katana impaled on him.

“What?” Before Deathstroke could think any further, his eye widened as he looked down to see Batman's arm across his stomach. “You...”

“That's for my son...”
The growl echoed with Deathstroke feeling an abnormal heat coming from his wound.

Slowly, Deathstroke held out his arms to Batman, who stared at him curiously.

“And t-that...” Deathstroke spoke with difficulty. “It's a trap.”

Suddenly a bolt of lightning shot through the ceiling, hitting Batman and Deathstroke and causing a huge explosion, completely destroying the corridor they were in. As the smoke cleared, two figures descended from the sky and landed in the crater.

The first was a muscular man wearing a red uniform with a white lightning bolt on his chest and a hooded cape on his shoulders, this was Billy Batson, also known as Shazam. The second had the same clothes, but his costume and cape were black, this was Teth Adam, also known as Black Adam.

“...Do you think that was enough?” Shazam asks, looking around as Adam crosses his arms with a serious expression.

“Maybe.”

Suddenly they heard the sound of footsteps and looked in their direction where they saw the silhouette of Batman approaching as he reformed. He let out a snort and glared at them before growling at them.

“Get out of my way! My children are just over there!”

“...You really are beyond salvation.” Black Adam narrows his eyes before shooting towards Batman, raising his fist.

However, Batman managed to dodge the blow and landed a punch to Adam's stomach before using his other hand to throw him into the wall with a thud.  Suddenly Batman turned and grabbed Shazam's hands, lowering them ignoring the hero's grunt before opening his mouth, firing a blast of fire into his face.

After a few seconds, Batman closed his mouth and head-butted Shazam before kicking him away as Black Adam intercepted him and shot into the sky. Batman dissolved into smoke and reformed on Adam's back, driving his claws into him.

Adam screamed in pain before summoning several spheres covered in lightning that struck Batman directly, throwing him backwards. As Batman walked away, Shazam grabbed him from behind, revealing that his face now had a reddish tinge.

Seizing the opportunity, Black Adam turned and began punching Batman with all his might.

“It's done.” Dr. Fate announced, stepping away from the ritual circle where there was now a small stone with a rune embedded in it. Zatanna slowly knelt down, picked up the stone and looked at it sorrowfully.

“Is that really the only option?”

“Unfortunately yes, love. Batman is beyond salvation now and is more dangerous than any other opponent we've faced, he's already destroyed almost 80% of Earth's cities, we have to stop him.” John put his hand on Zatanna's shoulder, knowing how hard it must be for her considering she was a childhood friend of Bruce's. “It's what Bruce would have wanted in the old days...”

Zatanna nodded silently before standing up with the stone in hand.

“Right... Let's get this over with.”

Batman roared, hanging Shazam as the two crashed into a building, demolishing it. The hero tried to free himself, but Batman wouldn't let him before opening his throat with his claws.

He slowly climbed out of the wreckage where he saw Black Adam standing in front of him with an exhausted but determined look on his face.

“You're in my way... I WANT MY CHILDREN!”

“Damn demon...” Black Adam braced himself when suddenly a symbol of an ahnk flashed in front of him with John Constantine, Zatanna Zatara and Dr. Fate coming out of it.

“...You can rest Adam.” Warned John looking briefly at Black Adam.

“You! My children, I want my children!”
Exclaims Batman advancing towards them.

“Ah Bruce...” Zatanna murmurs softly, looking at the monster in front of her with pity.

Meanwhile, John and Dr. Fate exchange a look before John runs to the side, something Batman notices by moving his hand briefly causing his cape to swing and several bats made of shadow and fire to fly towards Constantine.

Seeing this, Constantine raises his hands and shoots some magic rays at the bats, destroying them.  At the same time, Dr. Fate stood in front of Zatanna before giving her a look.

“Be ready, we'll try to get an opening for you.” Dr. Fate warned, causing Zatanna to nod with some hesitation.

“Just keep him still long enough, I only have one shot.”

Dr. Fate nodded before flying towards Batman.  He briefly moved his arms while forming several magic circles before starting to fire magic projectiles towards Batman.

While the battle continued in front of her, Zatanna prepared the rune with a little difficulty, Batman was not standing still and managed to dodge all of John and Nabu's attacks. If they didn't manage to immobilize him for at least a minute, it was all over.

Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder, making Zatanna turn to see Kori with a worried look.

“Zatanna, what's the plan?” Kori asked with a worried look at the fight.

“Immobilize him for a minute so I can banish him from reality.” Kori frowned before looking at the fight, noticing how evenly matched Batman and Dr. Fate were.

“That won't work, forcibly immobilizing him won't do any good, he'll kill everyone who...” Kori suddenly opened her eyes wide before frowning. “He kills everyone but me.”

“What?” Zatanna turned to Kori in alarm.

Zatanna, he kills everyone but me, in all the fights we've had he's always knocked me out, never killed me. I was married to Richard and I was the mother of Mar'i, his granddaughter.” Kori took a deep breath, frightened but still determined. “He's stronger than all of us and has killed many without hesitation, but he can't kill me, I'm still his family... if you want to survive, you have to use his weakness, you have to use me.”

“Kori, what you're asking me is...”

“I know, but there's no other way.” Kori bit her lip and clenched her fists. “At least I'll be with my family.”

With that, Kori took a few steps forward looking at Batman kicking John away while shooting flames at Dr. Fate. She turned to face Zatanna and Black Adam, who had approached them.

“Please be quick.” With that, Kori turned back to the fight.

“I'm sorry, your sacrifice will be remembered in Khandac.” Black Adam announced before approaching Starfire, raising his hands to her neck.

With one swift movement, Black Adam broke Kori's neck, causing her to let out a gasp before falling to the ground, something that caught Batman's attention.

His head snapped towards Kori, his expression changing to a mixture of horror and dread before he let out a demonic scream. He turned into smoke that shot towards Kori, reforming into Batman's form as he knelt down to take her in his arms.

“Kori? Kori? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!”
Bruce desperately shook Kori's body, before putting his hands on her cheeks.
“Kori... Kori, wake up... It's Bruce, don't leave now, I'm so close to bringing our family back...”

Without Batman realizing it, a transparent bubble was taking shape around him with Zatanna's corners.

“I promised you, remember? We're family, you can always count on us... Kori...”
He pulled her body closer to him with a mixture of tears and laughter.
“I'll bring everyone, you're dead now so I can still save you...”

“Black Adam!”

Suddenly a blur pulled Kori out of Batman's arms, causing him to roar at Black Adam who was holding the woman in his arms. He tried to get up, but his head hit a barrier, making Batman realize he was trapped.

The demon roared before hitting the walls of the barrier, trying to force his way out, but was unsuccessful.

“It's over...” Black Adam sighed, placing Kori's body on the ground before facing Batman with his arms crossed.

“NO! YOU KILLED HER! KILLED HER! KILLED HER! YOU KILLED HER! I WILL DISEMBOWEL YOU! KHANDAC WILL BURN! I WILL BATHE YOU IN YOUR BLOOD!”
Batman's threats were becoming more and more furious as he struggled to free himself.

Zatanna frowned at how Bruce looked, seeing how far his friend had fallen.

John approached her, placing a hand on her shoulder before hugging her, ignoring her sobs as she began to cry. He frowned looking at Batman struggling to free himself with a new circle appearing below him.

“...So that's it?”

“Yes. The ritual is complete, Batman will be banished from our reality and will never be able to return.” Assures Dr. Fate, making Batman stare at him.

“NO! MY CHILDREN ARE HERE! YOU CAN'T SEPARATE ME FROM MY FAMILY! NABU!”

“Bruce Thomas Wayne, Batman, I banish you from our reality and universe forever and ever by the powers of order imbued upon me as Nabu, the sorcerer supreme of this land.” Nabu announced as the wind increased and a crack appeared in the air below the sphere Batman was trapped in. “Goodbye Batman, I hope you somehow manage to redeem yourself, old friend.”

“NO! YOU CAN'T! NABU!”
Batman roared before the crack opened to reveal a glowing portal that sucked in the sphere before closing, pulling Batman out of that reality.

He fell into the magic sphere through what seemed to be an infinite hole with countless colored flashes passing by, but he couldn't care what he saw. Nothing made sense anymore, he was no longer in his reality, he realized that after the first year of falling, he couldn't bring his family back, Batman had failed.

After so many years studying magic, venturing into the occult, killing a lord of chaos, he would no longer be able to bring his children back, he would never hear their laughter, their fights, their jokes... He should have died instead of being banished, it would have been much better.

Ever since Batman abandoned his humanity and became what he is now, he's never felt so empty and desperate, he's always had a hope of being reunited with his family again. He'd had all the time he could, but now all his hopes and dreams were gone.

He looked around out of boredom, imagining how his children would feel when they saw their surroundings.

“I just want my family back, is that too much to ask?”

The creature thought to himself before closing his eyes.

What Batman didn't expect was to land on solid ground, after a long time falling through realities. He opened his eyes to see dark rain clouds, the water falling on him was something Batman never expected to feel again and slowly stood up looking at the sky before looking around to see that he was in some kind of cemetery.

“A graveyard? Am I on Earth?”
Batman turned around and his eyes widened at what he saw.
“Mom? Dad?”

In front of him was a large tomb with the word “Wayne” at the top, the gothic architecture reminded Bruce of the style of the old Wayne mansion when it still existed before it was destroyed with him inside, in a vain attempt to stop a ritual to bring their children back. He slowly approached and saw the names of his parents engraved in the stone 'Thomas Wayne' and 'Martha Wayne'.

Seeing this, the demon fell to his knees, reaching out to touch the stone.

“Mom... Dad... Is that really you?”
The monster asked, a small smile appearing on his face.
“I'm so happy, it's been so many years since I visited you, now it feels like a wonderful gift, yes... yes... YES! IT'S A PRESENT!”

Batman stands up with a big smile on his monstrous face and his arms spread wide.

“I haven't seen you for many years, I feel extremely lucky to appear here on my return to Gotham! Yes! Yes! Yes! Lucky indeed! So much to tell! So much to talk about! About my children...”
Suddenly he stops talking and looks around the tomb, noticing something fundamental... there were no other tombs, none of his children were there.
“No, no, NO, WHERE ARE THEY!?”

Batman looked around angrily as his skin seemed to glow.

“WHERE ARE MY CHILDREN! NABU! YOU HID THEM FROM ME!?”
In his enraged state, flames began to dance across the demon's skin when he heard something approaching from behind him.

Immediately, Batman turned and found himself face to face with a semi transparent figure who stared at him in surprise. He had a bright red costume with a D in the middle of his chest and pale skin, this was the Deadman, a ghost who acted as a hero by possessing people.

“What the fuck? Batman?” Deadman asks shocked before Batman jumps on him, grabbing him causing them both to fall to the ground, startling the ghost.

“You! How do you still exist!?”
Batman narrowed his snarling eyes at the ghost trapped in his clutches.
“I myself had destroyed your soul, how are you still here!? Where are my children!”

“What the fuck are you talking about, Bat? We met a week ago, remember? In that shady Justice League case...” declared Deadman, but seeing that his explanation only made Batman angrier, he decided to answer the second question. “As for the kids... you mean Nightwing, Red Hood, Red Robin, Robin and the others, right? I think they were all fine the last time I checked, either in Gotham or with their teams...”

Hearing this, Batman releases Deadman with wide eyes staring at him.

“My kids... are they alive?”
Slowly a smile appeared on Batman's face as he stood up.
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, YES! They're alive! ALIVE!”

“...Bat, what happened to you?”

“Quiet!
” Batman snaps angrily, startling Deadman by his sudden change of attitude.
“If they're alive then I can still have them, wonderful indeed. Yes, I have to fix up the house! The mansion must be perfect for all of them, yes, yes, yes.”

Before Deadman could ask any more Batman explodes into a dark mist that disappears from the cemetery, leaving the ghost alone.

“...What the fuck was that?”

A sigh echoed inside an underground cavern with several platforms that had various highly technological equipment and vehicles, with a large computer attached to one of the platforms. In front of the computer was a man typing while researching a chemical substance.

“Scarecrow has created a new variety of fear gas, it's even more potent and lethal than the others... He planned to pour the new substance into Gotham's water to continue his research using the whole city as a guinea pig.” The man sank into his chair, rubbing his face to ward off fatigue. “I stopped him in time before it was too late and handed the scarecrow over to the authorities, end of report. Batman out. ”

With that the screen changed, showing that a document had been completed and the man stood up, wearing a gray uniform with a black bat symbol on the chest, this was Bruce Wayne, also known as Batman.

He'd had a long night, having to race against time to stop the Scarecrow from poisoning the whole of Gotham City. It was almost six in the morning, meaning Bruce had spent almost the entire night and early morning having to deal with this problem with nothing but darkness and silence to welcome him home.

Unfortunately, his faithful butler Alfred Pennyworth had passed away due to old age a few weeks ago and most of his family were doing their own thing or ignoring him due to past quarrels.

Bruce walked calmly to his wardrobe and started to take off his uniform when he noticed something, the temperature in the cave wasn't as cold as it normally is, it was hot, getting hotter and hotter. Suddenly a hiss echoed, causing Bruce to jump away from the mannequin containing his uniform, before the place he was standing on burst into flames.

Bruce spun around on the ground, quickly putting on the hood of his uniform and adopting a combat stance.

“No, no, no, no. You can't stay here.”
The demonic Batman emerged from the smoke, snarling at Bruce.
“You're in my way! GET IN THE WAY OF EVERYTHING!”

“...Who are you and what are you doing here?” Bruce asks with narrowed eyes only for the creature to laugh.

“Don't you recognize me? That's funny! Explains why you're such a bad, grotesque, rotten father! ROTTEN! ROTTEN!”
Batman roared before pointing at Bruce.
“You have them here! THEY'RE ALIVE AND YOU DON'T HAVE THEM HERE!”

Bruce narrows his eyes before bringing his hand to his belt, taking out a batrang and giving the Batcomputer a brief glance. He didn't know how this demon had gotten past the batcave's defenses, but if he activated the intruder alarm manually he would warn everyone, bringing in reinforcements. However, before he could begin his plan, Batman was right in front of him, glaring angrily.

“YOU CAN'T HAVE THEM!”
Exclaimed the creature, kicking Bruce towards a giant coin, which fell with the impact.

“I don't know... what you're talking about.” Bruce stands up and gets into a fighting stance when Batman appears in front of him.

Seeing this, the hero lunges forward with punches and kicks that the demon easily deflects.

“You're weak... you can't keep them, you can't protect them... THEY WILL BE MINE! MY CHILDREN!”

At that moment, Batman grabs one of Bruce's fists and begins to squeeze. Immediately, the hero tried to break free and counterattack, but his opponent didn't even seem to feel it when a loud crack echoed through the cave, followed by Bruce's scream.

Batman didn't care before he grabbed the bat symbol and ripped it off, punching Bruce and sending the man crashing to the ground.

“YOU'RE NOT ENOUGH! YOU'RE UNWORTHY! YOU HURT THEM! YOU... YOU... YOU!”
The creature roars before climbing onto Bruce and mercilessly punching him with its fists and slashing him with its claws.

“THEY DESERVE THE WORLD! MY CHILDREN! MY CHILDREN! MY FAMILY!”
Blood began to pool on the floor as Bruce weakly defended himself, trying to block the attacks.

“MY FAMILY!”
With that cry, Batman delivers one last blow that causes the platform they were standing on to break and the two of them to fall to the cave pier.

Bruce groaned as he crawled away trying to ignore the wounds covering him as Batman stepped on his back before kicking him in the side, flipping the hero over.

“...I'll get them back and you'll help me.”
The demon declared, bending down to face Brue, who just breathed heavily.

“I... never...” Before Bruce could finish speaking, Batman covered his mouth with a smile.

“I never said it would be voluntary.”
Batman smiled at Bruce before his mouth began to open and tentacles of magic came out of it to clamp down on the fallen hero's limbs.

He struggled to free himself, but was suddenly pulled into the demon's mouth, shrinking in size as it approached until Batman closed his mouth. The creature stood up before turning into smoke that shot out in front of the batcomputer, where it took Batman's form again.

Suddenly, the creature began to change, its demonic appearance taking on a more humanized form with hair and skin growing on its body until Bruce Wayne was standing there. The man raised his hands, watching as he moved his fingers curiously before smiling.

“Yes... That's perfect.” Bruce smiled before approaching the computer and opening a file entitled 'Bat-Family'. “Now, where are my children?”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Bruce Wayne was smiling as he walked around his mansion, a satisfied smile, full of happiness at how bright his mansion was, full of pictures of his parents and his children. Photos not only of the family, but also of various other media and their devices thanks to the Batcomputer. Every wall and piece of furniture had at least one picture frame with a photo of one of his children, and that made him even happier.

He hadn't seen the faces of any of them for years, and that alone made him more excited than ever. Bruce stopped to look at the room, which was spotless, clean, bright, comfortable, perfect for each of his children. It had taken him all night to delete the other documents and mission reports to get the photos and prepare the house for the children.

Every room was cleaned down to the last corner by him.

“Everything has to be perfect, when I bring them home, they'll be so... I can't even think straight with happiness.”

Bruce thought, letting out a happy sigh.

At that moment, his cell phone vibrated, making Bruce perk up and pick it up hoping it was one of his children, but his happiness changed to an annoyed frown when he saw who it was:

Barbara Gordon.

“That... That... That traitor is calling me!?” Bruce growled, ignoring the way his skin seemed to redden. “That bastard girl is here!? She betrayed me! She stopped me from bringing my children!”

Bruce immediately disconnected the call, he didn't want to see Barbara. The woman in his world was the first to discover his new mission to bring his children back and alerted the other heroes; he would have had his children sooner if she had never gotten in his way in the first place.

A small meow caused Bruce to turn his head back, as if it had broken, but he didn't appear to be in pain or uncomfortable, but rather confused at the sight of a small cat. The animal was very small with black and white fur.

“A cat? Why is there a cat here?” Bruce slowly turned around before picking up the cat and bringing it close to his face, narrowing his eyes at the animal that let out a small meow at him. “...Alfred?”

The cat seemed to react to this name, letting out a softer meow that made Bruce's eyes widen, remembering that his youngest son, Damian Wayne, had several pets, one of them being Alfred the cat.

“Ah yes, Alfred, Damian's cat, yes, yes, yes. You're my son's cat!” Bruce laughed as he cradled the cat who seemed uncomfortable with the way he was acting, but relaxed when he received a massage on his fur.  “Yes, yes, yes, yes... You're perfect too, my son's cat, yes, yes, yes.”

Bruce began to walk around the room in circles before stopping in front of the fireplace and smiling, revealing sharp teeth. “You'll be useful, very useful.”

The cat meowed confusedly until it realized that Bruce was staring at it with his eyes glowing as if flames were coming out of them.

“Don't worry, you'll get better, perfect for looking after the family.” Bruce smiled before gently putting the cat down. “All of you.”

With that, Bruce began to walk away, followed by the cat.

A woman looked surprised at her own cell phone, she had long red hair and green eyes behind a pair of simple glasses, she was in a wheelchair wearing a black shirt and beige pants, this was Barbara Gordon, also known as Oracle.

“...Did he just refuse my call?” Barbara asked herself, raising an eyebrow in confusion and slight concern.

Ever since she noticed that a large part of the files, the folders relating to villains and other heroes, had disappeared from the system, deleted by Bruce and replaced by photos of everyone who had been “adopted” by him, Barbara had become a little confused. It also didn't help that all communication with the cave had been blocked, even worse, Barbara could no longer manage the main system, only Oracle's system.

Bruce was... complicated, they often had big fights with him and the others, which ended up affecting the whole 'bat-family', but whenever there were these explosions it was always more physical measures with everyone avoiding each other, the system always remained online for emergencies and this sudden shutdown was very worrying for her.

Suddenly a new call appeared on her screen, causing her to see the familiar symbol of the third Robin, now known as Red Robin, Tim Drake.

She quickly accepted, causing an image to appear of a light-skinned, almost pale boy with black hair and blue eyes with wavy black hair falling to the back of his head, he was wearing a red uniform with a black cape over his shoulders and a symbol resembling a bird's head on his chest.

“Tim, what can I do for you?”

“How about we start with why most of the folders related to the cases we have are gone and have been replaced by... photos of all of us?”

Tim asks in a serious tone, despite appearing confused by the situation.

“Honestly, I have no idea. Bruce suddenly deleted everything he had before and got hold of these photos. I'm not sure how to interpret that.” Barbara admits, frowning, which makes Tim stare at her.

“What?”

Tim's seriousness immediately changed to confusion and disbelief.

“You're telling me that the most paranoid, methodical and emotionally complicated person simply decided to delete all the files he had on everything and replaced them with... photos of Dick admiring himself in a mirror, a prank we pulled on Jason and...”

Tim stopped talking and took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as he crossed his hands in front of his face before looking at Barbara again.

“What the hell?”

“Yes, I know. I tried to talk to him about it earlier, but apparently he didn't want to talk to me, he refused the call... and he also blocked me in the chats.” Barbara finishes with an incredulous look going to every private channel she had with Batman.

“... That's strange.”

Now Tim also stared at her with a strange expression, as he approached his keyboard, probably opening his own communications.

“I know we haven't spoken to him for... a few months, but he's not one to block us...”

Suddenly, Tim was silent, staring at his screen, his mouth opening and closing several times, clearly lost in what he was seeing.

“Are you... sure he blocked you?”

Tim's question made her narrow her eyes.

“Yes, I'm sure. Why?” With that, Tim began to share the screen and to Barbara's surprise his chat with Bruce was still active and not only that, there were also other messages, heart emojis, several missed calls from Bruce and even more photos that had Tim at the mansion or in the cave smiling with an invitation for him to go home.

“...”

“...”

They both stared in silence at the messages, their brains still processing the messages Tim had received.

“What the fuck?”

A groan echoed as a young man stood up groggily, he had black hair with a few white strands in the middle and light blue eyes. He was wearing a black shirt with gray pants, this was Jason Todd, also known as Red Hood.

Jason walked slowly down the hallway of an old apartment, one of his safe houses, towards the fridge, where he quickly grabbed some juice before walking over to the counter and pouring himself a glass. After that, Jason sat drinking from the liquid while preparing some toast when he heard a ring from his cell phone that he answered without much thought.

“Red Hood here.” Jason greeted briefly.

“Jay! Good morning.”

The cheerful and loud tone made Jason spit out all the juice he was drinking, Bruce NEVER greeted him like that.

“B!? What the hell? Don't call me Jay, and what the fuck are you doing calling me at...” With that, Jason glances briefly at a clock and can't help but blink in surprise that it's nine in the morning, none of the bats were awake at that time, let alone so cheerful... Cheerful? “...B, is everything all right?”

“Yeah, everything's fine, Jay.”

Bruce assures him cheerfully, which makes Jason blink incredulously as he wonders if he had a concussion last night.

“How are you? Are you in Gotham? Have you eaten? Wouldn't you like to come to the mansion for breakfast?”

“...What?” Jason asked incredulously, rubbing his face as he wondered what the old man's game was.

“Is the connection bad? I see, I'll sort it out later.”

Bruce's tone was credulous, as if he really believed what he was saying.

“What the fuck are you talking?”

“I invited you to breakfast here at the mansion, I sent the same message to your brothers, but no one has seen the messages yet... If you want, you can also spend the day here, there's plenty of space, I've also just cleaned the rooms and...”

Jason immediately turns away from the cell phone and looks at the contact number, confirming that it was indeed Bruce before returning the call.

“Bruce.” When Jason called him by name, it was the first time there had been silence in the conversation and it really did sound like the man Jason knew. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“About you coming home, Jay. I've missed you, all of you. I'm even going to make you those hot dogs with chili that you love.”

Jason narrows his eyes at that, now it was official, Bruce was senile.

“Fuck you!” Jason exclaims angrily. “I'm not going back to the mansion Bruce, you had your chance before, but you blew it when you left the Joker alive!”

For a few seconds the line was silent and Jason could already feel that they were going to have the same fight once again about killing the criminals, he was already remembering all the arguments Bruce used and how the two of them always drifted apart for a few months  without wanting to talk to each other.

“So if the Joker is dead, you'd come home?”

Of all the things Jason had expected, this wasn't one of them, least of all Bruce's calm, measured tone.

“At least he seems to be having new arguments, that'll be fun.”

Jason thought sarcastically, rolling his eyes.

“Of course, only when the Joker gets beaten by a crowbar and blown up in a warehouse will I be going back to the mansion, so yes, Bruce, I won't be going back.” Jason continued angrily, growling as he spoke, now he knew what was coming, the argument that if Bruce killed him he'd be no better than the Joker or something.

“Okay. See you later, Jay, have a nice day.”

With that the line went dead.

Jason blinked in surprise before pulling his cell phone away and looking at it before hanging up. He certainly hadn't expected this, he'd imagined that there would be more arguments, but they'd ended without any fights or headaches... so he'd consider it a victory.

At that moment, Jason noticed the juice he'd spat on the counter.

“Shit!”

“I'm an idiot, stupid, dumb, incompetent! INCOMPETENT!” Bruce slams his fists on the batcave meeting table, ignoring how he's dented it with his strength. “The clown killed my Jay, my second son with a crowbar, how did I forget that!?”

Bruce's skin began to burn on the sides of his face, but he didn't seem to notice or care before turning to Jason's old memorial, now broken and in pieces. It was the first thing Bruce destroyed to release his anger as he remembered how his son had died the first time, how he had failed the first time.

The second time wasn't much different, Red Hood had just fought with him again over the difference in approaches and unfortunately the Clown noticed this and took advantage of the distance between the two. He set a trap for Red Hood by planting a bomb in one of Jason's homeless shelters, luring the vigilante there.

Jason had to save most of the children alone that night because there were no other bats in Gotham at the time. He died in an explosion, Joker just waited for him to have saved almost all of them when he detonated the building, Jason, his Jay died in an explosion that damaged and disfigured his body.

Bruce had always blamed himself for not being there when Jason needed him, when his son needed him... but the Jason of this world was still here, he had already died once... there wouldn't be a second.

A growl echoes from Bruce before he walks over to the computer and starts researching the Joker's status, apparently he had escaped from Arkham last night as well, no sightings yet.

“Joker...” Slowly, the fire covered Bruce quickly revealing the demonic Batman leaning into the screen, looking directly at the Joker.
“Joker...”

“That clown... that fucking clown took my Jay from me, took my little boy twice!”
Batman hisses before turning to look at one of his trophies, a large Joker card, one of the Joker's traps that almost killed him.

Without much thought, he opens his mouth and fires a burst of flame at the card, causing it to burst into flames. Batman took a deep breath watching the object burn before hearing barking, which made him look towards the entrance to the batcave and see two dogs barking at him, both of them very large with black fur.

“Ace?”
Batman looked surprised as he approached the two dogs that kept barking at him.

It had been a long time since he had thought about his dog before he became what he was today, in fact, it surprised him to see that both his dog and Damian's existed in this world together.

“Ace, Titus, sit.”
The two dogs immediately sat down while looking confusedly at Batman.

“You recognize me... Maybe it's my smell? Yes, yes, my smell has changed, but it's still similar.”
Batman smiled and brought his clawed hands to the animals' heads, rubbing them gently, ignoring their discomfort.
“The smell... yes, yes, yes, you'll be perfect now.”

His arms began to emanate a dark smoke with some embers that soon covered the two dogs who began to bark and growl. The smoke kept growing until it became one, they grew bigger and bigger until a new form appeared.

It was a creature with a canid body, about the size of a motorcycle with sharp claws and a kind of bony carapace attached to a whip-like tail, but the creature had two monstrous heads with sharp teeth and a mane made of blades with an orange glow. They growled some more before looking directly at Batman.

“Boys, we're going out hunting.”
Declares Batman before walking away with his Bat-Hound following him.

This was officially the strangest day of Jason's life.

He honestly didn't know how to react to the fact that Bruce had called him in the morning with a cheerful tone, calling him Jay, something that hadn't happened before he died the first time and now, he was at a loss as to how to feel about the replacement of content within the shared files of the bat-computer.

Jason let out a sigh and rubbed his eyes, trying to think of some way it could all make sense, but he was failing.

“Okay... Are we sure he hasn't been replaced by some shapeshifter?”
Jason asked looking at his computer screen, he was in a meeting with all the members of the bat-family except Bruce.

“I'm considering it, actually. But the problem is this... intensity in his contact. I don't have much data and I wouldn't be able to get back to Gotham in time to investigate, Young Justice is in the middle of a possible worldwide conspiracy.”

Tim declares, analyzing all the messages they've received from Bruce.

“He cares. Just do not shows.”

An Asian girl said on one of the screens, she has short hair and dark eyes, this is Cassandra Cain, also known as Black Bat.

“Well, I won't deny that this situation isn't strange, but he seems more open, right? Isn't that what some of you wanted? I mean, I'm not even exactly adopted by him like some of you and I still get these messages.”

This time it was a blonde girl with blue eyes who looked uncomfortable rubbing her arm, this is Stephanie Brown, also known as Spoiler.

“Bruce doesn't work like that, Steph.”

Assured a man on another screen, this one with long black hair and blue eyes, this was Richard 'Dick' Grayson, also known as Nightwing.

“Whenever he's more 'open' it's always after a long discussion with someone.”

“I also managed to talk to Luke, Helena and Kate about Bruce. It seems that Luke and Helena have also lost contact with Bruce by being blocked, we haven't had contact with Kate yet, she's on a mission outside of Gotham and will be off the air for a long time.”

Barbara says with a scowl as she sips a cup of coffee.

“And it doesn't make sense that he just blocked Gordon either. She's one of the first to join her father on his mission... there's something we're not seeing.”

A boy with short black hair wearing a domino mask that covered his eyes, a dark red uniform with an “R” on the chest and a black cape on his shoulders declared, this was Damian Wayne, also known as Robin.

Jason agreed with them, there was certainly something missing, especially with the conversation he'd had earlier with Bruce...

Slowly, Jason's eyes widened, as he began to have a vague idea of a possible theory, something that from what he saw on the screens, Cassandra realized.

“Jason, ok?”

Cassandra asked, making most of them now look at Jason's screen.

“Maybe not. By any chance, did B face the scarecrow yesterday?” Jason's question made Tim narrow his eyes at him.

“Yes, it was the last thing he did before we lost contact with Batman and he started with those messages. Do you think Scarecrow did something to Bruce?”

Tim asks, causing Jason to nod distractedly.

“Maybe. He called you too, didn't he? Did anyone pick it up?” Jason asked, making everyone nod. “Well, I picked up and I can confirm that he sounded strange.”

“Strange how?”

Dick raised an eyebrow, making Jason sigh.

“For a start, he called me Jay and he was cheerful... Seriously, B was cheerful talking to me, that's fucking weird.” Jason blurts out, shrinking back in his chair, trying to ignore the worried looks on some of the others' faces. “We also got to talking about the Joker and we didn't argue, he heard me say I wanted the Joker dead and he hung up.”

“Which hurts more?”

“Little wing...”

“Forehand or backhand?”

“No. You know what? Fuck you.” With that Jason left the call before closing his computer, he couldn't deal with this right now.

A loud bang echoed through the warehouse as a pale-skinned man was thrown to the floor, he had long, unkempt hair with bright green eyes, and he was wearing a purple and white suit, this was the Joker, Gotham's criminal clown.

The Joker grunted as he stood up confused, after all a few minutes ago he was in his comfortable cell in Arkham Asylum and now he was in a large closed warehouse with the lamps on and a large bomb with a digital clock counting down.

“A warehouse, a bomb, oh, oh, OH!” An excited laugh echoed through the warehouse as the Joker stood up wide-eyed and grinning. “Is it an act? Where's Robin? Where's my crowbar?”

Before he could continue, an object hit him in the back, knocking him down. The clown grunted before getting up and seeing a crowbar that he promptly picked up standing up.

The Joker tests the weapon as if it were a sword before laughing and looking around.

“Now that's funny, you've given me a crowbar! All that's left is to bring me a boy wonder and...” Before he could continue, the Joker was kicked in the back, knocking him to the ground.

The clown groaned before getting up to face Batman and couldn't help but blink in confusion at his new look.

“Bat? You look different, ah, don't tell me, did you get a haircut?” Joker laughs, but Batman isn't amused before revealing another crowbar in his hands.  “Oh, you've got one of those too? Shall we have a party?”

Suddenly a crack echoed as the Joker once again fell to the ground feeling a sharp pain in his stomach, he grunted laughing before raising his head to see Batman lifting the crowbar. Suddenly, another blow hit the clown, causing him to fall to the ground and try to cover himself, but Batman showed no mercy.

He continued to hit the Joker, blow after blow with the crowbar.

Soon Batman took a step back, seeing the Joker's bruised figure shaking and laughing.

“Get up.”
The deep, distorted tone of voice made the clown glare at him.
“You crowbar, take it.”

“Ouch... Batsy, that's not how we play, you know. Usually I commit some crime or do something that might push you over the edge and...” Before the Joker could continue, he received another series of blows from the crowbar, knocking him to the ground.

His body contorted with the intensity of the blows delivered by Batman, leaving the Joker lying on the ground with no reaction apart from shaking as he tried to get up.

“What hurts more?”
Suddenly he landed a blow on the Joker before doing the same on the other side of the clown.
“A or B?”

“Forehand or backhand!?”

After that, Batman let go of the crowbar breathing heavily with the Joker on the ground. Suddenly the sound of laughter echoed causing the criminal to stand up laughing at the monster in front of him.

“Ha ha ha ha ha, I-I won, Bat... Ha ha ha ha, in the end, I won, I broke you!”

Suddenly, Batman grabbed his shirt and pulled him close, which surprised the Joker as he looked into the flaming eyes of his captor.

“I'm not doing this for you, not for what you did, not for me. It's just because someone asked me to and I'm doing it... Because it was my son and he wants me to kill you, so you're going to die for him... This is for him.”
Reveals Batman coldly, making the Joker stare at him in surprise.

Just then, Batman started to smile when two howls echoed, startling the clown.

“And now, you're the only Joker left.”
This time Batman's tone was cheerful as he changed the clown's grip so that the two of them faced the bomb's timer, which was at 00:10.
“We'll feel the same as my little Jay felt with the bomb, sounds good, doesn't it? I'm going to feel what he felt... Yes, yes, yes, YES! I'll understand him better with this!”

“Aye, Batsy... you wouldn't do that to me, would you Bat? You need me.” declares the Joker, looking nervous as the timer ticks down.

“You? No, no, no, NO! I never needed you, I'll never need you... You're just a man... I just want my kids. Now be quiet, I want to feel everything my Jay felt.”
With that, Batman turned back to the timer, excited at the prospect of the explosion.

“What? Bat, wait, that's not how we play... Batsy, l-listen...” Before the Joker could continue, fire swept through the warehouse, along with an explosion that lit up the skies over Gotham.

The fire spread throughout the warehouse, destroying the walls and ceiling as smoke rose into the city's night sky. Despite all the destruction, BatmanBatman emerged from the flames holding a burnt body by the back of his shirt.

“...That wasn't nice, Jay must have suffered so much from that...”
mutters Batman with a sad tone.
“He doesn't deserve that, none of them do! No, no, no, NO! NEVER! I must keep them all alive! But how?”

While he was thinking, the two-headed Bat-Hound appears snarling with its jaw covered in blood and purple tissue, which makes Batman turn to them.

“Ace, Titus, is it  really done?”
The Bat-Hound growls in response, which makes Batman nod before looking at the body in his hand.
“Good... None of them will ever touch any of my children again, ever.”

With that, Batman began to walk, dragging the corpse of the Joker behind him. “Boys, come on, we have to prepare the invitation.”

In response, the Bat-Hound barked and followed his master, the two of them disappearing into the flames.

A cell phone ringtone echoed as Jason tossed and turned in his bed, before he finally got up and picked up the device to answer it when he saw that it was Barbara.

“Red Hood here.” Jason yawns as he gets up exhausted.

Last night had been a busy one, apart from his usual rounds of Crime Alley, Jason still had to worry about taking care of a new gang that had turned up, as well as some missing children who had ended up being kidnapped. All in all, a busy night for the Red Hood, so he really didn't want to wake up as early as he did now and have been a lot more vocal.

“Jason, you need to turn on the news, now.”

Barbara's tone was urgent, which made Jason nod nonchalantly as he went into the living room of his apartment to turn on the news.

“Yes, of course, good morning to you too, Barbie, how was your night? Mine was... Holy shit!” Jason began, before cursing as he saw the scene on television.

They were the bodies, or rather body parts, of several Jokers nailed to the wall of a building, but that wasn't all that impressed Jason, it was that all the limbs formed a drawing of a bat, the symbol of Batman, with a name written next to it: Jason.

“That's... Impossible, Batman doesn't kill, he's never killed before.”

Jason thinks wide-eyed, not knowing how to react as he watches the policemen trying to remove the criminals' limbs from the wall.

“Three Jokers? There was more than one of that monster!?”

“...son? Jason!”

Barbara's call brought Jason back into conversation, although he was still very shaken.

“Jason, are you all right?”

“I-I... Yeah, I'm fine, what happened? Is he really...” Jason asks as he sits on his sofa looking directly at the television.

“I don't know, I'm still out of Gotham, but I'll be back as soon as possible. Tim and Cassandra are on their way too, but...”

Barbara begins, before looking a little hesitant about what she's about to say.

“Jason, I need your help, what happened last night? Stephanie already told me that she didn't know and her tracker indicated that she was at home all day, but what about you? Did you see anything yesterday? Did anything else happen?"

“No, nothing happened last night, it was quiet except for...” At that moment, Jason began to remember the end of his conversation with Bruce. “...It's not possible.”

“Jason? What happened?”

Jason remained silent, reflecting. Bruce would never kill, not for himself, his own son, or anyone else, but something happened yesterday, something that made Batman think the Joker was worth killing.

He knew he should see it as a good thing, finally his murderer had been killed by his father, but for some reason it brought a feeling of unease, as if there was something wrong with the current situation.

“...Tell Steph to stand by until you get back.” Jason began to walk towards one of the rooms inside the apartment where the Red Hood uniform stood with several guns around it. “And if I don't answer anymore, call the Justice League immediately.”

Without waiting for an answer, Jason disconnected the call before starting to get dressed.

Red Hood watched the gate of Wayne Manor with clenched fists, as well as the dark clouds around it, it was hard for him not to notice how the weather seemed to get worse the closer he got to the property, it looked like a storm was starting and the epicenter was right there. He slowly approached when the gates suddenly opened as thunder echoed causing the anti-hero to raise his hands to his weapons.

“Not a bit scary...” Red Hood mutters before entering the grounds of the mansion.

Normally he would have entered through the batcave, but when he tried it seemed that all the entrances were sealed, although he wasn't sure about the underwater entrance, but the vigilante didn't want to test his ability to hold his breath. With that, Jason decided to be bold and enter through the front door.

Suddenly, the bars of the gate slammed shut behind him, with a loud bang that seemed to echo across the Wayne lands. Red Hood stood still for a few seconds before pulling out his guns and unlocking them.

“...I really hope it's not as bad as I think.” With that, he continued along the cobblestone road that led towards the mansion.

The vigilante couldn't help but notice how bright the mansion seemed, every room seemed to have its lights on, which surprised him, Bruce didn't receive any visitors other than them.

Jason approached the outside courtyard and looked at the fountain, which seemed to be on, another strange thing, Bruce never turned it on except when there was a Wayne gala party.

Seeing this, Jason turned his attention to the mansion, noticing that there was no movement, neither Bruce nor the animals that lived there. Ace hadn't greeted him, nor had Jerry started attacking him.

“Okay, Bruce! I'm here, that's what you wanted, isn't it?” Jason shouts, raising his arms and looking at each of the windows.

In the meantime, the mansion's doors open with a bang, revealing Bruce smiling warmly at him with his arms open, wearing a simple suit.

“Jay!” Bruce's loud, cheerful tone only worried Jason more, seeing how the man approached him. “It's so good to see you here! Did you see then? I did what you wanted and you came back, didn't you? Your room is ready, yes, yes, yes.”

“...Why are you repeating yourself like that?” Jason was still on guard, taking a step back, something Bruce didn't seem to notice as he drew closer and closer, his eyes wide and happy, but not blinking...

Not once.

“Come on Jay, I'm just happy that you're back home. Yes, yes, yes, very happy indeed.” Bruce declared, gently pulling Jason into a hug, which surprised the young man. “I missed you, after all. I love you so much Jay...”

Jason looked dazedly at Bruce before he shifted his grip so that they were both facing the mansion.

“Besides, I've renovated our house, expanded the library, you know? There are lots of new books that might interest you, classic literature, your favorites! Yes, yes, yes, I've also cleaned your room, it looks exactly as you left it last time.” Once again, Bruce seemed to repeat his words, making Jason swallow.

“That's... good.” Jason answered slowly as he pulled away from Bruce's grip and was surprised to see that there was no resistance.

“Yes, yes, yes. I've done a lot of preparation for your return. I promise Jay, I'll be the best father to you all, as I always should be, yes, yes, yes.”  This time, Bruce's smile was genuine, but it was wide, too wide to be that of a human.

“...Bruce, why did you kill the Joker?” Slowly, Jason gripped the handle of his gun, this time he felt the flame of the All-Blades inside him, reacting to Bruce.

“Because you wanted him dead.” The bluntness Bruce used in his response made Jason pause, noticing how his eyes began to change, glowing an orange hue. “He killed you, he took you away from me... He hurt my Jay! My son! He died in agony, I made sure it hurt, that he suffered, that it lasted as long as possible for each of the Jokers!”

Bruce's smile gave way to a furious look with an orange glow appearing on his face, smoke seeming to rise from his skin.

“I hunted them down, I beat them with crowbars, I blew up the one who dared hurt
my Jay!”
In the end, Bruce's tone changed to something more frightening, something demonic.
“They don't deserve to have access to the same air that my children have, no, no, no, NO! MY CHILDREN DESERVES THE BEST! MY JAY DESERVES THE BEST!”

Suddenly, a flaming blade pierced Bruce's chest, causing him to blink in confusion before looking at Jason who stared at him in disbelief.

“What the fuck is that?” muttered Red Hood, before catching Bruce's gaze. ”Shit!”

He immediately started running towards the gate with Bruce staring at him.

“What was that? Why is he running away from me? Did I scare him? No, no, no, Jay would never be scared of me, no...”
Bruce looked confused until he noticed Jason trying to use the trees on the property to hide from view.
“Oh...Oh! That's it! It's a 'hide and seek'! Of course, we're joking and you're with me! Oh Jay, you're really clever, you took me by surprise.”

Bruce smiled before being covered in fire, entering the form of the demon Batman again.

“Ready or not, here I come, Jay!”

Meanwhile, Red Hood approached the wall and was about to jump when a new shadow appeared, causing him to stop. In front of him was the Bat-Hound, one of whose heads snarled at him while the other seemed to smile at him.

“...That's certainly not normal.” He took a few steps back before realizing that something was glowing behind him. “You're right behind me, aren't you?”

Immediately, Red Hood turns around and throws a kick that Batman easily deflects while smiling.

“What the fuck is that?”

“Ah, Jay! I found you, but...”
Batman smiled, until he looked towards the walls of the estate.
“Our game is only here in our house, you can't leave.”

Suddenly, Batman reached out, grabbed his helmet and with a flick of his hand caused it to shatter into several pieces, with the bombs implanted inside it falling harmlessly to the ground, revealing Jason's face as he stared at it with wide eyes.

“I'm sorry, Jay, but I don't think it can be easy running around here wearing that thing.” The creature smiled at Jason, causing him to throw a smoke bomb on the ground and run away.

As soon as the smoke cleared, Jason was gone, leaving only Batman and Bat-Hound standing there. “Good work, boys, now go on, keep watch.”

The Bat-Hound barked before fading into the shadows as Batman walked off in the direction Jason had gone.

“Shit... Me and my stupidity for coming here alone.” Jason grunted before hiding behind a tree, quickly looking back to see if he'd been followed before grabbing his cell phone and turning on the group chat of everyone in the 'bat-family' without Bruce.

“This is Red Hood, aka Jason Todd, initiate Failsafe protocol now, Batman is not himself, I repeat he is not...” Suddenly the tree behind him exploded, throwing Jason forward and causing him to hit another one before falling to the ground with a grunt.

He quickly raised his head and his eyes widened at the sight of a new creature.

It was similar to a bird with bright orange feathers with some kind of liquid falling from them, burning the ground around it, its head had a sharp beak with two horns pointing backwards and very long wings. However, what Jason recognized was the hatred for him within the orange eyes, there was only one of the animals in the mansion that hated him so much.

“...Holy shit, Jerry? You too?” The creature roared, slowly approaching Jason while taking a few steps back.

Suddenly, another roar echoed making Jason look back and see a black panther walking towards him, however, the animal's eyes seemed empty showing a flaming interior and the mouth contained several sharp fangs with fire and smoke coming out of it. And from what Jason had seen with Bruce, Titus, Ace and Jerry, he could guess that the panther was actually Alfred, Damian's cat.

“Okay... I guess what's affecting B has affected you too, huh?” With that, the vigilante saw that Alfred had a paw on the cell phone before crushing it. “...And there goes my hope of rescue.”

A tremor echoed, causing Jason to turn and open his eyes wide at the sight of a giant, flaming bison approaching with a bat symbol in the middle of its face. Turning around, Ace and Titus were sitting there staring at him.

“I found you~”
Batman's singing tone echoed from right behind Jason, causing him to turn away while looking directly at the smiling humanoid creature.
“That was fun, wasn't it Jay? It's been so long since we played like that, hasn't it? I loved it, yes, yes, yes, yes, we'll be playing a lot more soon.”

At that moment, Jason grabbed his guns and started shooting at Batman, who just laughed, ignoring the fact that the bullets had no effect on him.

“Ah Jay, it's not good to be a sore loser, you know?”
Batman smiled as he approached Jason who began to sweat, the heat emanating from the five monsters finally having an effect on him.

“...What did you do, Bruce?” Suddenly, Batman was in front of Jason, holding him by the shoulders.

“What I should have done a long time ago, Jay. Bring our family back.”
A smile appeared on Batman's face before he grabbed Jason's face.
“We'll be together again, as we always should have been, forever.”

“Come on Bruce, I don't know what's gotten into you, but fight it.” Jason asks, his vision was starting to blur, he could also tell he was sweating a lot now. “I-It's not you...”

“Don't worry, Jay, you'll be fine... I'll take care of you.”
At that moment, Bruce opened his mouth and suddenly a crimson and purple liquid came out of it and started to enter Jason's mouth.

Noticing this, Jason began to struggle, trying to free himself with wide eyes, but Batman's grip was too strong. Slowly everything began to darken as he felt his organs seem to catch fire, he was so hot, it was too much.

Jason fainted watching Batman return to Bruce's form as he lifted him up in his arms.

Zatanna let out a sigh as she wiped the makeup off her face, she had just performed one of her famous magic shows in Vegas and was getting ready for a well-deserved rest after almost a week of balancing her life as a performer, magical consultant to the Justice League and occasional heroine.

She stood up from her dressing room chair, picking up her things when suddenly the Deadman came through the wall looking urgent, which made her sigh.

“What's the problem now, Boston? I hope it's at least a major calamity to show up like this.”  Zatanna narrowed her eyes at the ghost, belatedly realizing how scared he looked about something."Boston?”

“Zatanna, we've got a big problem... It's Batman.”

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Jason opened his eyes slowly, noticing a little light coming through the bedroom curtain. He grunted as he stood up, feeling his body ache and some kind of burning in his chest. Despite the sensation, Jason tried to concentrate on the current situation, he quickly realized that he was in his old room at Wayne Manor, and remembered the previous events that had brought him there.

At that moment, Jason realized that he was no longer wearing his 'Red Hood' costume, which Bruce had probably taken from him to confiscate his weapons, now he was wearing a white shirt and grey sweatpants.

“Shit, I've got to get out of here.”

Jason thinks when the door suddenly opens.

It was Bruce, wearing the same apron that Alfred used to wear when he cooked and in his hands he carried a very large tray made for eating in bed. Noticing that Jason was awake, Bruce smiled warmly at his son before approaching him.

“Jay, I see you're awake. I'm glad to see you're feeling better.” Bruce calmly places the tray on Jason's legs, revealing several hot dogs with chili. “I hope you like it, it took me a while to learn the recipe, but I think it's just the way you like it.”

Jason didn't reply, just stared at him in disbelief before looking down at his hot dog and back up at Bruce.

“Are you kidding me? Where's my equipment? You kidnapped me!” Jason exclaims angrily, but Bruce just denies it with his head.

“No, no, no, I didn't kidnap you Jay, I brought you back home, where you're safe.” Bruce corrects confidently. “I've also been able to make sure you don't get kidnapped, I've created a magical field that will keep you safe on our land.”

“...You're keeping me trapped here!?” Jason threw the tray away as he stood up looking directly at Bruce who frowned at the food on the floor. “You can't do this! Bruce, seriously, what the hell is going on?”

“I see you didn't like what I prepared for you, I'll try to improve the recipe next time.” Bruce assures him, completely ignoring what Jason said.  “Anyway, let's get going, I have so much to show you.”

Despite not being so confident in Bruce, Jason ended up following him out of the room. Once in the hallway, he had to stop for a brief moment when he noticed the countless photos placed around, on the walls, in picture frames.

Noticing that his son was standing still, Bruce looked at the photos with a smile before grabbing Jason's shoulder, drawing his attention to him.

“What's with the pictures?” Jason asked cautiously.

“I told you, Jay, I missed you, each and every one of you.” Bruce smiled before approaching a photo they all had together, before lifting it up. “So much has happened, I've changed, I've suffered for so long that I've lost track of everything, except for one thing. Yes, yes, yes, yes, my children are the lights of my life, nothing will be worthwhile without you. That's why we'll stay here together forever.”

“...I don't know what exactly happened to you, or what you've become, but humans don't live that long, Bruce.” Jason declares with narrowed eyes, making Bruce laugh before turning to face him.

“Ah, Jay... And who says you're still human?”

A pop echoes before the door to Jason's apartment opens, revealing Stephanie. She quickly entered and closed the door behind her before locking it.

The girl quickly looked around the room, seeing how messy it was, which already made her narrow her eyes. Jason wasn't one to leave his things messy, he had left in a hurry. With that, she quickly took a cell phone from her pocket and dialed a number before putting it to her ear.

“Hey Babs, I'm here at Jason's safe house, the place is a mess. Do you think there's any clue where he went?” Stephanie asks in a casual tone as she walks over to the fridge.

“...Stephanie, what are you doing there? Didn't I tell you to stay at your place and wait for the rest of us to arrive?”

Barbara's voice was tired and exasperated, but not surprised.

“I'm one of the bats, so I came to investigate, duh?” Stephanie shrugged as she passed several bottles of beer, a carton of milk and a jug of juice that was almost gone. “There's even a lot of alcohol in here, you know. Oh, pizza.”

“Steph... just stop raiding Jason's fridge. And have a look around, he left in a hurry yesterday, he might have left a clue.”

Stephanie smiled as she put one of the slices in the microwave and started walking towards the living room, looking at each piece of furniture.

As she watched, she couldn't help remembering how last night everything had been chaotic with explosions taking place in several warehouses in the port regions of Gotham. With Bruce missing, Jason and she had to investigate the explosions without finding anything relevant, no bodies, no witnesses, just the remains of bombs that had exploded, not in a big way, just enough to destroy the warehouses.

As there were no victims or losses, the two of them called it a day and decided to return home. What Stephanie could never have considered was waking up to the news that the Jokers were dead, she didn't even know there was more than one, and then she got the message to stay at home because Jason was going to check something out.

“Of course the big, bad Red Hood would try to act like a hero or glorified sacrificial lamb, a dramatic little shit who's gone off the radar.”

Stephanie frowned as she went back to the kitchen to get the pizza, briefly eating a piece before heading towards his room to try and find some clue to his disappearance

“Gosh, I really hope there's something in here, it'll be really embarrassing if Tim finds something later.”

Jason was looking nervously at Bruce, the two of them were sitting in the living room of the mansion watching the fireplace crackling with a few weak flames, despite this, he couldn't help but notice the Bat-Hound sleeping right in front of the fireplace.

“Did you enjoy your tea? I made it the same way Alfred used to make it for you.” Bruce was still very cheerful and unaware that he had kidnapped him.

He quickly glanced at the small cup in his hands before placing the cup on a nearby table.

“Bruce... What did you mean when you said I wasn't human anymore?” Jason asked as Bruce sipped his tea.

“Jason.” For the first time since Bruce changed, he used Jason's name, which made the boy tense up as he stared at him, which only got worse when he noticed his orange eyes. “We're a family and you're going to be here forever, unfortunately your human body couldn't live as long as I did, which would leave me alone again and I don't want to have to use necromancy to turn you into a slave of my will to stay alive.”

With that, Bruce left his cup on the table next to him and settled into the armchair, looking directly at his son. “I took the liberty of preparing a potion that would gradually change you to be like me.”

“And what are you now? A demon?” Jason couldn't help but narrow his eyes at how honest Bruce was being with him.

“Yes and no.” Bruce grinned mischievously, showing his sharp teeth. “Honestly, I don't even know what I am now, something completely new, a human who's corrupted himself with dark magic, immersed himself in so many rituals and dimensions that he's become a demon unlike any other.”

Jason nodded distractedly with a frown.

“And how did you manage to do that in just a few months?” Jason looked again at Ace and Titus sleeping before turning to Bruce. “I can't see how anyone, even you, could turn into something like that in just that short period of time. It doesn't make sense for you to turn into this... demon.”

Bruce hummed before laughing as he looked at the dog.

“You assume I'm from this timeline, don't confuse Bruce with this world, he was terrible, he isolated himself, he distanced himself from you, he didn't avenge you!” Bruce stood up and this time smoke began to sizzle from his skin with some burns appearing. “No, no, no, no, he didn't deserve to be the father of any of you, your father, I did! I've avenged you! I'll take care of you, I love you!”

Suddenly, Bruce was in front of Jason grabbing his shoulders.

“Jason, he wasn't a good father, I'll be your father, I'll protect you, avenge you, heal you, love you!
Yes, yes, yes, yes! I'll be more of a father than Bruce or Willis! My potion is already in you, you're already changing, not just in kind.”
This time Bruce's smile was much wider, almost seeming to cover half his head.

Jason could only watch him with wide eyes, it reminded him of the Joker. “What are you...”

“Oh Jay, I'm going to be your biological father now! Since I injected the potion into you, your DNA has started to change, your paternal DNA will match mine, I'm officially your father now, Jay!”

At that moment Jason kicked Bruce in the chest, causing him to recoil in surprise. After that, Jason stood up, his eyes glowing orange with a furious expression.

“You had no right!” Jason exclaimed before running towards Bruce who looked even more radiant watching him. “They were shitty parents, but they were my parents, I don't know what the hell you did to them, whether you're Bruce or not, but you can't expect that this is going to make me consider you my father right away!”

Jason soon began to fight Bruce, but he was casually dodging the blows.

“None of the others will accept you, Damian still loves Talia, Stephanie still has her mother, hell, we all have a life outside the Waynes!” This time, Jason manages to land a punch to the side of Bruce's face, but promptly backs off when he feels a burning sensation in his fingers.

Bruce continued to stare at Jason cradling his hand, his eyes wide before he began to rub his chin.

“...Yes, it's true. The family is big, yes, yes, yes, you're right, Jay, I got so carried away with you that I forgot about the others.” Bruce comments as he walks away, looking lost in thought. “Yes, yes, yes, Kory is family, she gave birth to Mar'i, Stephanie and Damian love their mothers...”

While Bruce thought, Jason frowned at what he was hearing, not recognizing one of the names he said.

“Who's Mar'i?”

Bruce remained silent before staring at him in shock before his expression softened.

“Ah, you don't have her here, a mistake I'll correct. Yes, yes, yes, my granddaughter will live again, your niece will!” Bruce smiled before looking at the photo of his parents above the fireplace. “Decisions, decisions...”

Jason looked at Bruce who seemed immersed in thought before slowly walking away until he heard a growl behind him. Turning around, Jason saw Alfred staring at him with narrowed eyes.

“Fuck...” Jason mumbled before turning around to face Bruce before he grabbed his face.

“Sorry, Jay. This is only going to hurt a little, but it'll be quick and I'll make up for it.” Despite the gentle tone, Jason was wide-eyed, beating Bruce trying to get free. “Now, sleep.”

Slowly, Jason's strength drained away as he was gently dropped to the floor, passed out.

Bruce glared at him unhappily before raising the hand that held Jason and with a swift movement of his other arm severed his limb which fell to the floor with a small thud. He casually kicked the hand away, causing Alfred to run after it.

“Get rid of that thing. I don't want to see that hand that did this to my Jay anymore.” Bruce orders before bending down and lifting Jason into his arms. Soon, he started walking towards Jason's room.

“Stephanie, I know you're busy with all this bat stuff, whatever's going on, but I'm worried, call me when you can. Love you.” A woman said into a cell phone before turning it off, unfortunately it had hit voicemail again.

She has short brown hair and light-skinned green eyes, wearing a pink shirt and dark pants with a pair of glasses on her face. This is Crystal Brown, Stephanie Brown's mother.

Yesterday her daughter had to rush out to investigate the explosions that had taken place and for some reason Batman was out of the picture again, something that apparently only the members of the 'Bat-family', as Stephanie liked to call them, knew. Thanks to her being Stephanie's mother, this meant that she also knew and it only made her thankful that today was a day off for her, since whenever Batman wasn't around, Gotham was plunged into chaos.

However, the chaos now wasn't crime-related as usual, but weather-related. Storm clouds were raging over Gotham, a strange fog also seemed to be forming in the streets, she still didn't have any information to explain it.

She looked worriedly at the sky, seeing how dark it looked, it was increasingly being covered by dark clouds and she couldn't help but wonder if it wasn't connected.

Suddenly, her cell phone started ringing, making her pick it up, but her eyes widened when she saw who was calling, after all she only had his number for special situations involving her daughter.

Bruce Wayne was calling her.

Despite knowing that he was 'missing', Stephanie hadn't picked up since he left home and this only made her worry more, so after a little hesitation Crystal answered.

“Bruce Wayne?” Crystal asked to confirm.

“Crystal? Yes, it's me.”

Bruce's voice answered her, making her relax a little.

“Listen, we don't have much time, I have an emergency and I need your help.”

“My help?” Now Crystal was confused, after all she knew that she wasn't exactly one of Batman's most trusted contacts, even though she knew his identity because of his daughter. “I think I'm too old to become some kind of vigilante.”

“No, I don't need a fighter, I need a doctor, please... Jay's very ill, he's not waking up, there's something wrong with him, his temperature...”

His tone began to change, he was no longer his usual stoic self, he began to get desperate.

“Please... I need your help, there's no one else I can call.”

“...I'll be there in a few minutes, but tell me, is Stephanie with you? Is she all right?” Crystal asks worriedly.

Bruce remained silent, but she could have heard a sigh from him earlier, he also seemed to be worried now, which only made what she was feeling worse.

“Is something wrong with Stephanie? No, no, no, no, she can't be in danger, if she is I'll sweep Gotham upside down to find her!”

For the first time, Crystal's eyes widened without understanding what Bruce was saying, this was completely different.

“Crystal, come to the mansion, Stephanie will be fine, I promise.”

Crystal remained silent, the conversation was strange, Bruce Wayne had never been so worried about Stephanie before, but it was genuine, this time she could feel how much he seemed to care about her. Although she didn't know why, Crystal wasn't going to take Stephanie's safety lightly.

“I'll be there in a few minutes.” Crystal assured him as she switched off her cell phone before getting up and grabbing her car keys.

Crystal knocked on the door of Wayne Manor quietly, noticing how... beautiful and bright the Wayne grounds were, a big difference from a few moments ago, her way to the manor was almost completely dark and a fog that made it almost impossible for her to drive, but from the moment she entered the property everything changed.

Everything seemed to be clearer, more alive. The mist from before seemed to have completely disappeared and Crystal could feel a cool breeze instead of the strong wind of a storm, completely different from before, which only made her wonder even more about what was really going on.

She turned around to see her car parked right in front of the entrance, she was only holding a bag with her own basic medical equipment, already knowing that it might not be necessary, as the cave should have even better and more modern equipment than hers.

Suddenly, Bruce Wayne opens the doors, making Crystal turn to face him, but she's wide-eyed when she sees that he has some pretty bad burns on his face that look like they haven't been taken care of at all.

“Mr. Wayne, what happened to you?” Although suspicious, Crystal was a nurse and had taken an oath.

“Come on, my son's in his room.” Bruce ignored her and started walking, making her follow him.

The first thing she noticed were the photos of several different young people, including her own daughter, Stephanie, among them. A general picture was forming for her and it was worrying her even more. Bruce seemed to be under the influence of something, perhaps a gas that exploded in his face, the emotional dependence was a little obvious, but on this level? It was something she had never seen before.

Soon the two of them arrived in Jason Todd's room where the boy was lying on the bed sweating profusely with a blanket covering him and she noticed that there seemed to be a fan and an air conditioner running in the room.

“What happened to him?” Crystal asked, placing her bag on a table before she approached him.

“I made him ingest a potion that will turn him into my biological son and a demon.” Bruce's response caused Crystal to stop what she was saying and turn to him.

At that moment, Bruce lunged forward, grabbing her by the neck and lifting her off the ground. Crystal grabbed his arm and started kicking him as hard as she could, but he didn't move.

“Y-you monster! What do you want with me?” Crystal asked as she choked on Bruce's grip.

“From you? Nothing. It would be so easy to kill you now, it would be so simple... But my Jay made me have to adapt my plans.” Bruce began to smile, showing some sharp teeth. “And you'll be useful now.”

Suddenly Bruce moved, leaving Jason's room, taking her with him into the hallway. He quickly closed Jason's door with his other hand gently so as not to make a sound.

“Bru-Bruce, please...” Crystal was starting to turn purple looking at Bruce with tears in her eyes. “Ste-Stephanie...”

Hearing her daughter's name, Bruce's eyes softened, which was frightening for the woman.

“Oh yes, our Stephanie, she'll be coming home soon, in fact it's thanks to her that you'll still be alive. So when I'm finished, I hope you'll thank her properly.”

He let go of Crystal, causing her to fall, but Bruce quickly lunged forward, grabbing her and biting her neck, creating a few sparks. Crystal screamed and squirmed under Bruce's grip, trying to free herself, but after a few seconds, he threw her to the ground.

Bruce's eyes glowed orange with his chin covered in blood.  He quickly wiped away the blood and turned to face Crystal writhing on the floor

She was wide-eyed, crying and foaming at the mouth, until she screamed again, turning her back to Bruce, her forehead on the floor with her back arched as something began to move behind her back.

The screams increased when two lumps began to rise on Crystal's back until they exploded, cutting her shirt and staining the entire corridor with blood while a pair of bat wings were sticking out of her back. Crystal stood up showing that her ears were now sharp with her skin turning pale like a corpse's and the scar from Bruce's bite had a flaming orange hue, with her eyes glowing the same shade.

At that moment, Crystal started to stand up, making him notice how her limbs had thinned and increased in size, revealing that she had sharp claws and a more skeletal body, with sharp fangs in her mouth. She stared at him for a few seconds before she curtsied in front of him, oblivious to the torn state of her clothes.

“My master!”
Crystal's tone was now guttural, like a growl and a hiss, but mostly a passionate tone.

Bruce didn't answer, he just smiled at her.

Stephanie ate a fry and drank a soda while looking at the monitors in the Clock Tower, on the screens she was seeing the latest recorded images of Jason dressed as the Red Hood traveling around Gotham. She leaned back in her chair with a frown, she had just heard Jason's conversations with Bruce, thanks to a small backup that Jason kept hidden in his apartment.

Unfortunately, this brought up a really bad image for her. Bruce Wayne, the Batman, had killed the Joker and that was frankly a scary thing, the man was complicated both with his own emotions and with others, she herself had several problems with him since she wasn't the most skilled of bats, nor was she that close to him, but she was still in his 'good graces' while Barbara had been blocked.

Nothing was making sense to her, there was something missing from the puzzle.

“Jeez, why now do I have to be the only bat in this damn city?” She couldn't help but complain as she reached for another fry, detective work was usually for Tim and although she was good at investigating she wasn't that good either. “If I have to fight the Batman who kills now I'm going to haunt every one of them.”

Stephanie looked at the screen again and her eyes widened as she saw the last image of Jason's helmet, he was entering the Wayne estate, as soon as the iron gates closed, everything went static before going offline.

“Oh shit...” Stephanie's eyes were wide as she re-watched the scene. “The mansion has some kind of signal switch, that means Jason lost contact almost a whole day ago...”

At this point, Stephanie compiled all the documents and sent them to the 'bat-family' group, Jason had already disappeared and considering how 'fatherly' Bruce was, she had no doubt that there was a good chance that she would be the next target. After that, she quickly got up and ran to the mannequins before stopping in front of Spoiler's costume, if she was going to fall, she was at least going to fall fighting.

A body was thrown through a pair of large doors while a group of armed men were pointing at the door and right behind them was a man in a white suit with a black skull mask covering his entire head, this is Roman Sionis, the Black Mask.

“Stand firm.” Roman commands in a neutral tone before walking forward. “Batman, it's impressive that you managed to break into my building and take out all my men, without attracting attention or raising an alarm, but I'm not stupid, I keep a complete watch on my men's heartbeats. Now how about you leave and we...”

Just then, the demonic Batman appears with his hands covered in blood. He walks slowly to a stop, looking at Roman.

“Roman... I found you.”
The Batman growls as he walks towards Roman, which causes the guards to shoot him, but he ignores them.
“Where's Spoiler?”

“What the fuck? Kill the bastard!”

Suddenly Batman starts to bubble, which makes Roman open his eyes wide and run towards his desk, jumping over it and hiding. At that moment, Batman exploded, which made Roman hear the screams and see the blood spraying out of his window.

Roman grunted as he grabbed a knife and a rifle before coming out of his hiding place and pointing the gun at Batman who was standing on his desk. All around were the bodies of all the guards pierced by stakes that seemed to be made of bone.

“Where's Spoiler?”
Batman asks again, but Roman ignores him before shooting him.

Again, Batman didn't seem bothered and just slapped the gun away. Roman's eyes widened and he picked up the knife before plunging it into Batman's head, who continued to stare at him before opening his mouth and letting loose fire in Black Mask's face.

He screamed as he tried to remove his helmet and didn't notice a shadow appearing on the window until a blur broke it and threw Roman onto the table. Although almost unconscious, the Black Mask could see Crystal in her monstrous form snarling at him.

“Where is my daughter! Where is she!?”
The monster woman demanded, crushing Roman's ribs, causing him to cry out in pain.

“I-I don't know! Fuck, I don't know where she is!” Roman exclaimed.

“No, no, no, no. You tortured her before, you hurt my Steph, you hurt her, hurt, hurt, HURT!”
Batman roared, making the room shake before he reached up and grabbed Roman's helmet and ripped it off with one movement.
“Where is she!? What have you done?!”

“No-nothing, I swear, Batman, I didn't do anything!”

Batman growls before turning to look at Gotham. Before his gaze perks up and he turns to Crystal.

“Crystal, kill him. Our daughter is alive!”
Batman's animation was visible, he was smiling, something Roman had never seen before in his life.

“W-wait, she's alive, isn't she? I-I have nothing to do with this!” Roman exclaims in despair as he sees the gleam in Crystal's eyes and looks at Batman. “I-I'm innocent.”

“He tortured her before. Make him suffer before you kill him.”

Crystal roared before attacking him with her claws. Batman stared at the carnage being wrought by Crystal, who seemed content to prolong her screams for as long as possible while blood began to drip from the edges of the table.

Spoiler leapt over one building before landing on the next and looking around the city, frowning at the strange atmosphere, the night was looking even darker than before, with the only source of light she could see being the Bat Signal. She was about to head towards it when an explosion echoed, causing her to turn and stare wide-eyed as she saw one of Gotham's skyscrapers in flames and worst of all, it had a bat symbol on the side with the edges made of fire and inside it was a name: Stephanie.

“Holy shit... I was right...” Spoiler's eyes widened and she took a step back, activating her communicator on the group frequency. “Guys, I've got a problem here.”

“What's the problem?”

Cassandra sounded on the comms.

“I think Bruce has turned into some kind of Serial Killer, Jason disappeared after going to Wayne Manor and... I think I'm next.” Spoiler reveals before his eyes widen. “Shit, my mom!”

Spoiler fired a hook into one of the other buildings before jumping up using the cable to propel her.

“Stephanie, what do you mean? Report.”

Tim demanded looking scared for her, which she was too, but knew that she alone wouldn't have much chance of surviving Batman, but the others would have a good chance.

“Tim, I don't have time for this.” She ran across the rooftops looking at the building, noticing how far away it was. “I don't know what exactly is happening to him, but I know he must be aiming at us. Don't come to Gotham alone, or rather, don't come at all!”

“Brown! Stop this right now, I don't know what you're thinking, but you're not going to do anything stupid.”

Damian echoed on the radio just as Spoiler saw her mother's apartment, which was dark, which worried her even more.

Her mother always left the lights on when she was at home.

“...Whatever's going on with Batman, you need to stop him and if I still survive I hope to have a whole day with his credit card and we'll get out.” With that, Spoiler switched off her communicator and jumped using her grappling hook to land on the apartment's balcony before entering it, readying her staff.

She looked around the dark place when she noticed someone sitting in the armchair staring at her.

“Steph.” Bruce smiled as the lights came on, making her notice the burns on his face.

“That doesn't look very good.” Spoiler comments with narrowed eyes as Bruce stands up, which makes her tense. “So the explosion just now, that was you too, wasn't it?”

“Yes. Roman Sionis is dead.” Bruce reveals with a satisfied smile, which makes her eyes widen.

“Really? Well, good riddance to him, but why did you do it?” Cautiously, Stephanie glanced quickly down the corridor, thinking about how to get to her room to check that her mother was all right.

“Why!?” Now Bruce was angry, which made her flinch. “He tortured you! He hurt you!
Roman Sionis deserved to suffer before he was shot! Yes, yes, yes, our little girl deserves it! It's the least we could do for you, Steph.”

“Yes, there's definitely something wrong.”

Stephanie thought as she noticed how Bruce's eyes began to sparkle. “Your little girl?...Wow, Bruce, you're going to make me emotional.”

At that moment, Stephanie felt a small breeze on her back, which made her turn around quickly and open her eyes wide when she saw her mother, Crystal, smiling softly while holding a small girl who was crying.

“Mom!?” Stephanie exclaims in surprise at seeing Crystal who smiled gently at Stephanie.

“Hello Stephanie.” Crystal started walking through the house, passing Stephanie who was incredulous before stopping next to Bruce. “That's her, our granddaughter.”

“Granddaughter? Mom, you didn't do it!” Stephanie looked at Crystal with a betrayed expression as she understood what had happened.

When Stephanie was younger, she made a mistake, ended up getting pregnant by a boyfriend, Dean, and had a baby with him. Only Dean abandoned her as soon as he found out about the baby and Stephanie had to have the baby alone with only Crystal and Tim helping her, but they both promised to keep it a secret.

Unfortunately, Stephanie knew that with her life as a Spoiler, it wouldn't be fair for the child to grow up in this life, so she put the baby up for adoption. She never imagined she would see the child again, but now that the little girl was in Crystal's arms, Stephanie could completely see herself in the child.

“Bruce, please don't do anything to them, okay?” Stephanie raises her hands, letting her stick fall to the ground, making Bruce stare at her. “Look, I'm surrendering, okay? I surrender, now let them go.”

The little girl was crying looking at Stephanie and it squeezed her heart, even more so as Crystal was calming the little girl down.

“Oh Steph, you don't have to worry, okay? I don't want to hurt you.” Bruce assured her, lowering Spoiler's hood and removing her mask.

She kept a steady gaze as Bruce touched her cheeks gently, smiling.

“I would never want to hurt you.” With that, he turned to the crying little girl. “None of you, we're family, aren't we?”

Stephanie remained silent, staring at the child before fixing her gaze on Bruce.

“What do you want from me, Bruce?”

“My daughter.” Bruce assured gently before opening his mouth and suddenly a crimson and purple liquid came out of it and began to enter Stephanie's mouth.

Her eyes widening as she felt as if her veins were burning, hearing the child's frightened scream, Stephanie didn't know what Bruce was doing, but already imagined it was the same as what he had done to Jason. Suddenly everything began to darken, her vision focused on Crystal and the crying child until Stephanie finally passed out.

Bruce smiled lovingly at Stephanie as she collapsed, causing him to lift her into his arms.

“We're finished here, do you need anything for her?” Bruce asked, his gaze not leaving Stephanie's sleeping face.

“I'll come back here later for that, Bruce.” Crystal assures as she moves closer to Bruce and looks at Stephanie. “Having always given Stephanie a proper family, I'm glad that now we'll have that chance.”

Crystal smiled, kissing Bruce's burnt cheek before looking down at the little girl in her arms who had finally passed out. “One big family.”

“...Okay, that's definitely bad.” Commented John Constantine in his overcoat and suit, dumbfounded, as a cigarette fell out of his mouth while he watched Gotham from the entrance to the city. “I can assure you, love, whatever is happening in Gotham is potent black magic.”

Next to him was the ghostly form of Zatanna Zatara who had a scowl on her face.

“Do you think you can tell what's going on?”

“Honestly? I'd say it's Armageddon. Zatanna, I have no idea what's going on, but it's powerful, the amount of dark magic I feel is suffocating, I can't get into Gotham.” John assures cautiously before looking at the sign at the entrance to the city. “We might have to bring some heavyweights in here.”

Zatanna nodded before disappearing, leaving John alone staring into the darkness of Gotham.

----- CHAPTER BREAK -----

Tim was sitting staring at a monitor that showed two photos, one of Jason and the other of Stephanie, with the word 'Offline' after them. The boy was slumped in his chair staring at both photos, although his gaze lingered longer on Stephanie's photo when he noticed a hand on his shoulder, which made Tim look at Cassandra who was staring at him with concern.

“Tim, are you all right?” Cassandra asked in a harsh whisper.

“...I will be.” Tim assured as he took a deep breath before rubbing his eyes, masking the tears that threatened to fall, but Cassandra could see right through her brother. He quickly stood up before looking at the girl. “Is everyone here yet?”

“Yes.” Cassandra nods, which makes Tim pull the mask over his head.

Seeing this, Cassandra does the same thing before the two leave the room and enter a meeting room with a few other people there. Nightwing, Oracle, Robin, Starfire and three other people were sitting around the table.

Sitting next to Starfire was another light-skinned red-haired woman, she was wearing red and black armor similar to Wonder Woman's, this is Artemis Bana Mighdall, also known as Artemis, a member of the Outlaws, a team made up of heroes and anti-heroes that was led by Jason.

Next to her was a very large man with gray, deformed skin and dark hair. He was wearing a red uniform with an upside-down 's' on the chest and a red cape on his back, this is Bizarro, another member of the Outlaws.

At the end of the table was a red-haired boy wearing a pair of sunglasses on his face with a cap turned backwards, he was wearing a red uniform with a quiver on his back and a bow thrown in front of him on the table, this is Roy Harper, also known as the Red Arrow.

“Thanks for coming on such short notice, Outlaws.”  Red Robin begins, casting a brief glance at Artemis and Bizarro.

“Get to the point.” Artemis interrupted him by crossing his arms. “We're here for Jason, not for you.”

Red Robin remained silent before bringing out a hand-held controller and pressing a button on it, causing a slide projection to appear behind him.

“Batman is compromised. And we think he killed Red Hood and Spoiler.”

Stephanie grunted as she stood up, blinking groggily as she found herself in a room that definitely wasn't hers, but had all her things around it, from posters to more private objects like her computer and magazines. She glanced around briefly before standing up and looking down at herself, her eyes widening as she noticed that she was no longer wearing her Spoiler uniform, but a sleeveless white shirt and simple shorts.

“...Okay, that's pretty bizarre.” Stephanie swallowed before looking at the bedroom door.

She approached it slowly before opening it and finding herself in the middle of one of the Wayne mansion's corridors, noticing almost immediately the amount of photos around.

“Blondie?” When she heard someone calling her, Stephanie turned around and her eyes widened as she recognized the person who had called her.

“My God, Jason! You're alive!” Stephanie exclaims before running towards him, noticing how Jason has become paler and sweatier, having to lean on the wall to walk. “What happened to you?”

“Bruce... He did something to me.” This time, Jason looked directly at Stephanie, making her notice how his eyes were now orange. “I-I don't know what's going on exactly, or what he did, but we have to leave.”

Stephanie nodded before slipping one of Jason's arms over her shoulder, and the two of them started walking down the corridor. They continued for a while until they reached the stairs leading down to the entrance hall.

As soon as they got there, Stephanie stopped, her eyes widening when she saw that Crystal was coming up the stairs, smiling at them both.

“Ah, Stephanie, Jason, good morning dears.” Crystal greeted them, allowing them both to see the bite scar on the side of her neck. “Are you hungry? Breakfast is already on the table.”

“...Blondie, what's your mom doing here?” Jason whispers to Stephanie.

“I don't know either, but she's helping Bruce.” Stephanie whispers back when Crystal suddenly pulls Jason gently away from his daughter, lifting him in her arms as if he weighs nothing.

“Stephanie, come with us, Bruce and Emily want to see you.” Crystal warns as she heads down the stairs, ignoring how uncomfortable Jason looked.

Despite the situation, Stephanie followed her mother in silence, exchanging a quick glance with Jason. After a few minutes, the three of them arrived in the dining room where there was a long table with Bruce sitting at the end with a small child in a highchair next to him.

Crystal guided the two of them to the chairs next to Bruce, making Stephanie sit next to the child and Jason on her other side. Once this was done, the older woman approached Bruce and gave him a quick kiss, which made Stephanie suppress a grimace.

“I don't know what's going on, but it's really disgusting to see my mom and Bruce like this.”

Stephanie thought with a scowl at the two of them while the child next to her just stared at her, which caught Stephanie's attention.

“Hey?”

“...Are you my mom?” Stephanie could feel Jason's gaze on her when the little child asked that.

“Mom!?”

“Children.” Bruce suddenly raised his voice, making the three of them fall silent and stare at him, which made him smile. “Steph, it's a great pleasure to have you home now. But don't worry, I'll make sure your stay here is comfortable.”

“We'll make sure you're comfortable and have everything you need.” Crystal then smiled at the three of them, which made Jason stare at her.

“And why exactly did you decide to join this 'family'? You helped kidnap Stephanie, your own daughter and a random child!” Jason exclaimed angrily, causing Stephanie to notice that his face had reddened.

Crystal smiled before eating an apple, still staring at him. “Oh dear Jay, isn't it obvious? I'm your new stepmother now. Bruce showed me that I should be a better mother to Stephanie and that he's the ideal father for my little girl, so I didn't have to think too much, just accept it.”

When Crystal finished speaking, her voice became distorted and her eyes suddenly glazed over before returning to normal.

“Besides, Emily isn't a random child, she's Stephanie's biological daughter, before it wasn't safe for her to stay with us and it had been my daughter's decision to put Emily up for adoption, but now?” Crystal smiled as she got up and walked over to Bruce, holding his shoulders with a loving smile. “Now, we have someone to take care of all of us, to be a real family forever. Isn't that wonderful? Emily...”

This time Emily looked curiously at Crystal, not noticing how Stephanie looked at her mother or how she leaned closer to the little girl.

“Emily, you're my granddaughter, thanks to our blood I was able to locate you in that Crime Alley safe house.” This time, Jason and Stephanie's eyes widened at the information. “You ran away from your foster homes, didn't you? Tried to survive on the streets? Don't you wish you could finally have a home?”

Crystal quickly walked over to Emily, smiling maternally at the child. “To have a house, a room, a bed, a family that loves you and will protect you? You'll have me, your grandmother, your grandfather, Bruce, your mother and your Uncle Jay.”

“Enough!” Stephanie gets up, slams her hands on the table and stands between Emily and Crystal. “You can't manipulate her like that! Mom, this isn't you, I don't know what's going on with you, but I swear we can work something out, just let me contact the others...”

“Yes!” Bruce announces happily, surprising Stephanie. “We really should contact them, Dick, Tim, Cassandra and Damian, we should bring them back, great idea, Steph! Yes, yes, yes, yes, a great idea, wonderful! Magnificent!”

Emily laughed, not noticing how Stephanie and Jason looked at Bruce worried and frightened.

“Grandpa's funny.”

Suddenly Bruce's smile got even bigger as he stood up and walked over to Emily, taking her in his arms and lifting her up to put her on his shoulders.

“Ah Emily, if I'd known about you before, we'd have had so much fun before!” Bruce smiles at the girl as he walks away with her, thinking in his own world, if he had known his granddaughter was alive... he would have made sure Emily was alive and safe with him. “Come on, come on, I'll show you the garden and the animals! Yes, yes, yes, yes, your Uncle Damian's animals!”

“I like animals.”

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, you'll love them, every one of them!”

Jason and Stephanie watch as Bruce and Emily walk away before turning to Crystal who smiles sweetly at them both.

“Ah Stephanie, I hope you like how your room turned out, it took me a while to organize it with Bruce and...” Crystal begins, before Stephanie stares at her.

“What the hell, Mom, what are you doing helping him? He's kidnapped us!” Stephanie exclaims, looking at Crystal with anger and betrayal. “Why are you so... loving towards him, you were never like that even with Dad!”

“Stephanie.” Crystal interrupted her daughter with a calm tone. “I understand your confusion, but it's not that complicated, since yesterday, Bruce Wayne is your father. Soon you won't even be human anymore, but you'll still have us, your family... we'll finally be a more than complete family, maybe I'll even be able to give you some little brothers or sisters.”

In the end, Stephanie turned green before vomiting.

“They're so cute!” Emily laughed as she scratched Titus and Ace's heads. The little girl was ecstatic to meet the two-headed dog, something that made Bruce happy as he watched right behind her.

He felt happy, like when his Dick first arrived as a young, impressionable child, until he turned into Robin. Emily brought that childlike animation back to the mansion, something that cheered him up a lot, having a child running around the estate.

Bruce barely knew Emily, but he would kill anyone who dared to take the smile off her face.

“Yes, yes, yes, Ace and Titus are very cute! Like my little granddaughter!” Bruce smiles, making Emily giggle as she looks at him.

“How come they have two heads, Grandpa?” Emily asked, tilting her head.

“I used magic, shared some of my magic with them and manipulated it to unite the two into a single being.” Bruce explained, rubbing Emily's head before kneeling down in front of her. “Would you like to see some more of our pets?”

Immediately, Emily's eyes perked up, causing Bruce to smile before he stood up and whistled, causing the Bat-Hound to sit up and stare at him, which surprised the little girl.  Suddenly the ground shook as the Bat-cow approached, letting out a puff of hot air from her nostrils, and next to her was Jerry, hissing as he tilted his head.

Emily looked at the two animals impressed by their size and appearance, but she let out a cry of surprise when Alfred stepped out of her shadow purring. Soon the four animals stood side by side staring at the girl and Bruce.

She quickly hid behind her grandfather's leg, not noticing how Bruce's expression became more radiant before he placed his hand on the top of her head.

“Emily, these are our family pets, the Bat-cow, Jerry, Ace and Titus, and Alfred. They've all been infused and modified with my magic, but they're friendly and most importantly, they're guardians of our family grounds.” Bruce explains calmly as Emily steps out from behind his legs looking shyly at the four creatures staring at her.

“O-oi.” Emily waves at them shyly, which makes them all stare at her until their posture softens.

“They like you.” Bruce encourages her, making the girl smile at him

She always wanted a family when she was in the foster system, she went through a few that were less than ideal in some cases, even giving up on the notion of family in Gotham. But now? Emily finally felt like she was part of a family, even though she hadn't really spoken to her mother, her grandfather and grandmother were wonderful.

“Grandpa, I love you!” The girl quickly hugged Bruce before running off to play with the animals, who had stopped glowing so much, with the heat subsiding to make it more bearable for her.

Bruce stood silently watching his granddaughter play until he slowly began to smile, a smile that seemed to cover his entire face.

“And I love you, Emily.”

Red Robin could tell that the atmosphere at the meeting was tense and he didn't blame anyone for it being so. Truth be told, he was also worried about the situation, Batman going rogue and killing not only enemies but also allies who were as close as children, regardless of Jason and Stephanie's disagreements with Bruce, they had always been part of the family.

He still couldn't believe that Stephanie was dead... She had faked her own death once and it had almost destroyed him, if she had really died again...

Tim would kill Batman.

“Batman killed Red Him?” Bizarro asked with tears falling from his eyes, he was one of the most emotional about the news from what Red Robin could see.

Starfire had her head down, her eyes wide, probably in shock at the content of the meeting, trying to absorb everything she had discovered. Roy was another who looked worried, he was silent, his glasses hid his eyes, but Red Robin could see how his jaw was clenched, the archer was angry and planning something.

Despite everything, there was one thing that made Red Robin a little worried. Artemis, unlike the others, was calmly staring at him, almost as if the news of Jason's death didn't affect her, while she used one hand to calm Bizarro down.

“...Are you sure Batman really killed Hood?” Artemis asked, looking at Red Robin.

“The evidence points to it, but we don't have any circumstantial evidence. At worst he's dead, at best he's trapped and held captive by Batman.” The explanation seemed to leave a bitter taste for Tim, he didn't like these options one bit, but he had to take everything into consideration. “We're still working on a plan to invade Gotham and make sure we know what we're dealing with.”

Artemis nods before standing up, making everyone stare at her.

“Very well.” The Amazon simply turned around, taking Bizarro with her, but she stopped at the door of the base before turning to them. “I'll be going ahead with Bizarro, if you want to gather more people feel free, but I won't leave Jason Todd in danger or without revenge.”

With that, the two super beings left the room.

A flock of bats flew past as Emily excitedly looked around the platforms with vehicles and technological equipment with Bruce right behind her, making sure the girl was safe.

“And this is the Batcave, where I used to work as Batman, investigating and preparing to take on Gotham's crime.”  Bruce explains calmly, walking over to Emily. “Maybe later I can teach you how to fight like a bat.”

“Really? I'd know how to fight like a Robin! That's incredible!” Emily gets even more excited, which makes Bruce smile at her.

“No, no, no. You'd know how to fight like a bat, like me, your uncles and aunts can teach you too, when I bring them home.” Hearing this, Emily smiles brightly at Bruce before looking curiously at the bats.

“Grandpa, why are the bats down here ordinary and our pets different? I thought everyone would be different since... you're Batman.” Emily asked, tilting her head to make Bruce stare at the bats on the ceiling of the cave.

He was silent for a few seconds before looking at Emily with a thoughtful expression before nodding to himself.

“Ask your mother, yes, yes, yes. Steph should give you permission to have an army of bats. Yes, yes, yes, she's your mother. Steph has the last word!” Bruce nodded to himself as Emily seemed to lose heart, something he noticed.

“What's wrong, sweetie? Something wrong?” Bruce knelt down, looking at the little girl who seemed hesitant.

“Do we... do we really have to talk to her?” Emily asked, looking away. “I mean... I don't think she likes me, she gave me up for adoption... She hasn't even spoken to me yet...”

“No, no, no, no, Emily, darling, listen: Steph loves you. Yes, yes, yes, yes, Stephanie loves you, she couldn't stay with you because it was dangerous.” Slowly Bruce held Emily's shoulders with a gentle gaze. “You're as much part of our family as any of us, Emily. You're my granddaughter now and not even if all the heroes and villains got together would they be able to take you away from us!”

Hearing this, Emily began to cry before she threw herself at Bruce, hugging him. As she cried, Bruce was wide-eyed before hugging her back with a broad smile on his face.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, Emily Brown-Wayne... Yes, yes, yes, yes, my precious little granddaughter will live here forever!”

Bruce thinks as his eyes take on an orange hue.

Jason let out a sigh as he leaned against the wall, glancing briefly at Stephanie looking at a crime board with Bruce's picture and several words around it with question marks and the pictures of the other Robins and Batgirls connected by green string.

“I don't think staring at a painting for that long is going to help you solve anything.” Jason comments weakly, making Stephanie turn to him.

“I know. But how can we find out anything here? Heck, I don't even know how to approach this thing that claims to be Bruce, or my mother. All we know is that they're both demons from what you've told me and we're probably going to become demons too.” Stephanie declared in frustration before throwing herself on the bed. “You saw that mark on my mother's neck, didn't you? She was turned by that bite, so Bruce probably was too, but I didn't see any marks on his neck... And he didn't bite us.”

Jason and Stephanie shuddered as they remembered how Bruce had forced that 'potion' inside them.

“And we couldn't even contact the others, since apparently he invoked a fucking force field around the mansion!” Stephanie pointed to the outside of the mansion where the two of them could see that they were inside a dome that showed the sky with an orange tint and a beautiful sunset. “None of this makes sense, I mean, he's kidnapped us, he's going to turn us into demons and he's obsessed with us, but what's his goal? I doubt it's just to make one big happy family.”

“...You've spent a lot of time around the Substitute, blondie.” Jason finally adds something to the discussion, making Stephanie stare at him.

They stayed like that before she sighed and lay down on the bed staring at the ceiling.

“...Do you think he was serious? About me becoming his biological daughter? I mean, that would be really weird, Tim and I...” Stephanie shuddered before looking at Jason who winced.

“Honestly, I don't know.”

Suddenly the door to their room was opened by Bruce who was holding Emily's hand. They both stopped as soon as they saw Stephanie and Emily looked shyly at her.

“Bruce.” Stephanie stood up with a tense posture looking between Bruce and Emily.

“Hi, Steph, Jay.” Bruce smiles at them both before looking at Emily, giving the little girl a reassuring nod.

Seeing this, Emily walked towards Stephanie who softened her gaze before kneeling down in front of the little girl, checking that she was all right.

“Emily, are you okay? Did Bruce do something?” Stephanie asked awkwardly, causing Emily to tilt her head in confusion.

“Grandpa showed me the animals, the mansion and the bat cave...” Emily answered shyly, giving Bruce a quick glance before turning to Stephanie. “Mom...”

“...Yes?” Stephanie cringed a little, it was strange to hear a child call her mother.

“...Can I have an army of magical bats?”

“...”

“...”

Both Stephanie and Jason looked at Emily without knowing what to say about what she had asked.

“What the fuck...”

“Language!” Stephanie interrupted Jason with a hard stare, although she agreed with him, but she didn't want swear words around her daughter...

“Good God, I'm a mother...”

Stephanie shuddered, realizing the weight of her words before clearing her throat by standing up and giving Bruce a quick glance. She didn't trust him, not this Bruce, let alone with Emily, who seemed young and impressionable, something he seemed to take advantage of.

“Emily, why don't you step out for a moment so I can talk to Bruce?” Stephanie asked as softly as she could manage.

Emily looked at her in confusion before nodding and walking away, stopping shyly in front of Bruce who smiled gently at her. With that, Emily left the room leaving the three guards inside and immediately Stephanie and Jason stared at Bruce with serious and angry looks, something he ignored.

“Sorry about that, Steph... Unfortunately she liked what I did with Damian's animals and wanted a legion of bats, but if you don't want her to have them I won't argue.” Bruce declared with a slightly embarrassed look, which made Stephanie clench her teeth.

“No. I don't know what you're trying to do to us or Emily, but I'm not going to let you get away with it.” Stephanie declared angrily, clenching her fists. “What the hell are you thinking turning us into your children! Do you know how sick that is? Holy shit, you've always been controlling, but this is ridiculous.”

Bruce stared at Stephanie, looking perplexed by what she was saying, even tilting his head with a confused expression.

“Ridiculous? No, no, no, no. It's not ridiculous, it's perfect. You're my daughter in everything but blood and soon you'll be totally my daughter, just like Jason, Damian, Tim...”

“You asshole!” Stephanie exclaims, advancing towards Bruce, who opens his eyes wide. “Did you even realize what you just said? Me becoming Tim's sister! That's weird, we've both been dating and now we're going to be brother and sister? Don't you realize how wrong that is?”

“...And that's not even counting how you hunted us down like we were prey.” Jason narrowed his eyes angrily.

After listening to the two, Bruce remained silent with a speculative look on his face, glancing directly at Stephanie before looking disappointed.

“Ah... I understand, Steph, I made a mistake... I'm sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry...” Bruce began to walk away, repeating his regrets, which made Stephanie and Jason's anger change to concern.

They already knew that Bruce was no longer the man they knew, having been twisted into the monster they saw, but he was much more unstable than they had expected, they had never seen Bruce cry like he was now.  He was trembling, his shoulders shaking violently with sobs echoing around the room.

However, to their horror, Bruce began to change. Fire began to erupt from his skin, creating even worse burns than before, while his clothes disappeared as he was burned, his hair began to fade while a pair of horns grew on his skull.

They stepped back wide-eyed, Jason even in his weakened state standing in front of Stephanie as he realized that the demonic Batman was once again in front of them. The creature growled before turning to the two of them, revealing that he had blood falling from his eyes like tears.

“Steph... Steph, Steph, Steph, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!” The creature wailed with a sad and frightening sound that froze them both. “I didn't realize you and Tim were still like that, did I ruin it for you? Unforgivable! Grotesque!”

Batman seemed distracted by yelling at himself as he grabbed his arms and shoved his claws into them, increasingly furious with himself before turning his attention to Stephanie.

“You love him... you're my daughter... he's my son... you can't love each other the same way if you're brother and sister. But Kori and Dick love each other, I love Kori as a daughter, but Kori is not a daughter... YES, YES, YES! I know!” Suddenly, Batman was excited as he turned to the mirror, looking at himself. “Obvious! The answer is obvious! I'll fix it! Yes, yes, yes, Stephanie is a daughter like Kori!”

“And-he's going after Starfire too!? What the hell? I thought his target was just us.” Stephanie thought worriedly, noticing how Jason seemed to understand what he was saying.

“Hey Bruce, calm down ok? We can talk and...” Suddenly, Batman was in front of Jason, one hand clutching his face.

Jason lay still for a few seconds before collapsing, being gently guided to the ground by Bruce. After that, Batman turns to Stephanie and advances towards her, which makes the girl's eyes widen.

“Hey, wait a minute...” Stephanie is soon interrupted when she feels Batman grab her face as well.

Stephanie grunted with wide eyes before looking at Bruce who was staring at her with a heartbroken expression.

“Sorry, Steph... I'll make it up to you later.”
Batman declares before Stephanie feels herself getting sleepy.

The girl tried to pull herself free, but unfortunately, Stephanie soon fainted. Bruce stared at her for a few seconds before looking into a corner of the room when Crystal seemed to materialize from the shadows with her eyes glowing.

“I'm here, my master.” Crystal quickly curtsied to him.

“Where's Emily?”
Batman glanced quickly at the door as Crystal raised her head.

“Ace, Titus and Alfred are entertaining her at the moment.”  Crystal reports calmly before approaching Stephanie. “Why is she like this?”

“I made a mistake. Yes, yes, yes, yes, a horrible mistake, but we'll fix it! Yes, yes, yes, Stephanie will be happy, she'll be with Tim, just like she wants!” Batman laughs before kneeling down and raising one of his hands to look at Crystal. “I will withdraw my blood from inside her and you must insert your blood at the same time. Stephanie will be your daughter exclusively, but she will be part of the family.”

“Of course, my master! All for her happiness.” Crystal smiles at Batman before she too begins to transform.

With the two of them transformed, Batman reached out his hand, causing small drops of blood to start appearing on Stephanie's skin before flying towards his hand, coming together in a single sphere. At the same time, Crystal bit her wrists with her fangs, causing a large amount of blood to come out before she began to concentrate, causing the blood to start moving, floating towards Stephanie, entering her skin as the sphere grew larger.

The two of them smiled as they looked at Stephanie, unaware of how she began to whimper.

(Some time later.)

“...Is my mom okay?” Emily asked, wearing Batman themed pajamas looking at Stephanie lying on her bed, next to her was Crystal smiling gently at the little girl while stroking her daughter's hair.

“Of course, darling, your mother is strong.” Crystal assured the little girl before turning away from Stephanie and leading Emily out of the room where Bat-hound was sitting waiting. The woman smiled at Emily before the little girl headed towards the room opposite Stephanie's, followed by Titus and Ace.

Crystal smiled before looking at the fainted Stephanie, but this time her eyes glowed orange as she smiled, showing her sharp teeth.